Activists Say 'No' to Amazon HQ deal at New York City Council Hearing

Activists opposed to Amazon’s deal to bring its second headquarters to New York briefly disrupted a city council hearing looking into that deal on Wednesday, December 12, chanting “GTFO, Amazon has got to go!” as the panel was about to be sworn in. Council Speaker Corey Johnson cautioned the group not to interrupt again or he would have the balcony, where many of the protesters were sitting, cleared. The hearing was the first of three the city council has announced to investigate how the deal to build a new Amazon headquarters in Long Island City was struck. Johnson has said that “something is fundamentally wrong when you’re giving this much money away and public land away” and the deal was negotiated behind closed doors and without going through the council’s land review process. Credit: Maritza SilvaFarrell via Storyful