Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Democratic Socialist of America comrades are mounting calls for NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to step down and for the city to disband the police department’s Strategic Response Group – with some notably leaving Hizzoner out of the calls to action.
DSA state senate candidate, Illapa Sairitupac posted a graphic to X Friday that read “Abolish ICE, disband the SRG, fire Tisch,” but noticeably didn’t mention his comrade Mamdani.
The misplaced rage is also being redirected to the New York City Council, with DSA members attacking Public Safety Chair Oswald Feliz and Speaker Julie Menin, claiming they are both halting legislation that would disband the SRG.
Socialist council member and Mamdani ally Chi Osse claimed Feliz was purposely blocking The CURB Act – a bill that seeks to stop the Strategic Response Groups interference in breaking up protests – from coming to a hearing, a key step for bills to advance in the council’s legislative process.
“The chair of the public safety committee, Council Member Oswald Feliz, is blocking the bill from a hearing, and no, he’s not a republican,” Osse snarked in a instagram video Monday.
“It’s long overdue that we, the people, get a hearing,” he told viewers, even noting the Mamdani administration should have a chance to share its thoughts on the pending legislation.
But other left-wing calls to action weren’t as soft on the mayor – with some of his DSA allies instead opting to call him out directly.
A formal statement released by the New York City chapter of the DSA Saturday directly demanded he fire Tisch after a man was shot by federal law enforcement officers during a Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation Thursday.
“We demand that Mayor Zohran Mamdani fire NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch and use every power available to him to drive ICE out of New York City,” the incensed group wrote.
“We further demand the mayor abolish the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group and Community Response Team.
Socialist congressional candidate Andrew Easton – who is running against democratic incumbent Rep. Ritchie Torres in New York’s 15th district – claimed the “real responsibility” falls on Mamdani.
“Fire Tisch and disband the SRG, but the real responsibility lies with Mayor Zohran Mamdani. He must kick every ICE agent out of NYC,” Easton wrote in a post to X Sunday.
“Mamdani was elected with the support of the immigrant rights movement and must be held accountable. He must fully enforce Executive Order 13.”
A spokesperson for Mamdani pointed to statements Hizzoner made on Friday to the New York Times saying Tisch “is the police commissioner, and there are no plans to change that.
“And I want to be very clear that our administration, alongside the commissioner, alongside the PD, will review all of the events of the last 24 hours, including ICE’s shooting, the police department’s response to that incident and the ensuing protest, the staging of ICE operations in privately owned parking lots, and every action the city can take to protect New Yorkers from ICE’s terror,” Mamdani said.
