New York City's police commissioner apologized Thursday for the 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn that catalyzed the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
Speaking to a crowd gathered at Police Headquarters for a Pride Month safety briefing, Commissioner James O'Neill said that "the actions taken by the NYPD were wrong."
Nearly 50 years ago, police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar just after midnight on June 28, 1969, claiming that the bar had violated liquor laws. Patrons and others fought back against the officers, spurring days of protests and a wave of activism.
"I think it would be irresponsible of me, as we go through World Pride Month, not to speak of the events at the Stonewall Inn in June of 1969," O'Neill said in a statement published on Twitter.