Protesters are demonstrating in the Hamptons, and wealthy residents aren’t simply ignoring them.
Private security contractors are getting tons of calls from Hamptons homeowners to guard their estates, according to the New York Post.
About 200 marchers and 100 drivers visited some of the Captains of the Universe in the Hamptons on Wednesday. In protesting income inequality, demonstrators have targeted the homes of wealthy and influential vacationers including former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Related Companies’ Stephen Ross, and Blackstone Group’s Steven Schwarzman.
CM Security Consulting co-founder Charlie McArdle told the tabloid that his firm was hired to protect 16 properties, and half of them are owned by billionaires. He’s also providing armed guards to drive clients to and from the Hamptons.
“Enough is enough — it’s time for New York state to raise taxes on the rich instead of cutting services for working people,” said Alicé Nascimento of New York Communities for Change, which helped organize the march.
Outside Bloomberg’s $20 million mansion in Southampton, protestors called him a “looter” and chanted “Tax the rich, not the poor!”
“Billionaires are experts in social distancing,” Nascimento told The Post. “They’ve chosen to live in their own world and are separate from realities of everyday people and the people whose lives they have a tremendous impact on.”
The actions have undoubtedly unsettled some of their targets.
“The protesters are so crazy,” one Hamptonite told the Post. “I first hired armed guards around two weeks ago, when the protests began, and put a fence around my property to defend it. This is happening all over the country.” [NYP] – Dennis Lynch