Emily Gil, an 18-year-old Black Lives Matter organizer, received a letter earlier this month from her town’s mayor requesting a payment of $2,500 for police overtime.
Gill organized a BLM rally in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, on July 25. Englewood Cliffs sits just across the Hudson River from upper Manhattan. She said she organized the protest to call for action on issues like increasing affordable housing in her town.
The letter, written to her by Mayor Mario M. Kranjac, chastised Gil for not meeting with town officials before the protest, requiring them to hastily come up with security plans.
“Your lack of notification left the borough with little time to prepare for your protest so that the police department and department of public works could ensure that everyone would be safe,” the letter reads.
“Please promptly forward your payment to the borough in the amount of $2,499.26 for the police overtime caused by your protest,” Kranjac wrote.