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400 More Stores Looted in Brooklyn; Civic Groups Appeal to Negroes

July 24, 1964
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Officials of the Brooklyn Jewish Community Council joined with other civic and religious groups today in an effort to persuade Negro civil rights leaders to postpone for the time being any demonstrations in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn after a second night of widespread rioting and looting of stores.

Another 400 stores in the area — most of them Jewish-owned–were looted last night, despite a warning by Mayor Wagner in a radio and television statement that mob rule would not be tolerated in New York City. Three men were shot by police and 122 persons were arrested, as thousands of rioting Negroes stormed through the crime-ridden slum section.

Jewish Community Council officials said that the appeals for postponement of demonstrations were made to enable police to deal more effectively with looters and hooligans who were using Negro grievance demonstrations for the widespread looting.

In the neighboring Crown Heights section, which has a preponderantly Jewish population, Maccabee safety patrols continued guarding the area at maximum strength, and no serious incidents were reported, according to Rabbi Samuel Schrage, who organized the civilian defense corps. He voiced high praise for non-Jewish volunteers in the area, including Negroes, who aid the Hassidic Maccabees, especially by manning the patrol cars on Friday nights when the religious members of the Maccabees rest on the Sabbath.

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