Protesters stole NYPD radios to blast 'Breaking the Law' by Judas Priest

Police officers in New York City might have had a tough time communicating with their colleagues last night. That's because, for the third consecutive night, protesters managed to steal NYPD radios. According to an account on Twitter, the stolen radios were used to blast "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest over the NYPD frequency.

The account @USAProtests managed to capture a soundbite of the disruption:

Rock on — Fittingly, by stealing radios, protesters are breaking the law. But then again, the protests began over police brutality and the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd by a white officer. Social media has been inundated in the past week with videos of police responding to protests with excessive force, so the whole thing feel pretty perfect. It's only fitting that the police be reminded that their behavior in recent days has been not just reprehensible, but in many instances, illegal.

Whoever did steal the radios, our only hope is that they'll start taking requests. Maybe we could hear "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath next? If you'd like to hear what they do play next can we suggest investing in a radio of your own? This isn't the first time police radios have been used for musical entertainment. Last weekend activists in Chicago used police scanners to broadcast Tay Zonday’s “Chocolate Rain.”

Police violence — New York City mayor Bill De Blasio announced on Friday that the 8 PM nightly curfew set in place last week will remain through the weekend as protests continue and arrests top 2,000. The mayor and others have blamed the most serious destruction in the city on "anarchists" with motives other than combating racial injustice. But he's also been largely unwilling to denounce the NYPD for its violent attacks on peaceful protesters, from driving into crowds to beating individuals just for filming officers.

Needless to say, there's not too much sympathy for the NYPD right now.