Mayor Bill de Blasio has left New York City with little notice or fanfare to attend protest events at the G-20 meeting in Hamburg, The New York Times reported.
President Donald Trump is set to meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the Group of 20 meeting, which has been met with numerous protests.
de Blasio, a vocal detractor of Trump, left New York for Germany on Thursday, and will be the keynote speaker for an event called Hamburg Shows Attitude on Saturday, his spokesman Eric Phillips told the Times.
An organizer of Hamburg Shows Attitude told the publication that the event is being held to “stand up for democracy and human rights.”
The mayor made the decision to attend G-20 yesterday after learning that the funeral for slain NYPD Officer Miosotis Familia, who was fatally shot in the Bronx Wednesday, would not be held over the weekend, Phillips said.
Phillips and two other staffers from the mayor’s office traveled with the mayor, as did several members of his security team, the Times reported.
The spokesman also said that de Blasio plans to visit his son, Dante, who is spending the summer in Germany during the whirlwind trip. The mayor is set to return to New York City on Sunday.
de Blasio’s last-minute trip to G-20 drew the ire of Trump’s eldest son, Donald Jr., who tweeted that the mayor “goes to G20 to protest against capitalism while the city’s education, infrastructure etc rots under his ‘progressive’ stewardship.”
NYC mayor goes to G20 to protest against capitalism while the City’s education, infrastructure etc rots under his “progressive” stewardship! https://t.co/B2W1q8qh0c
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 6, 2017
Phillips replied that Trump Jr. “misspelled fascism.”
You misspelled fascism. https://t.co/9nPlUxPtlo
— Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) July 7, 2017
Phillips also shared images of de Blasio in Hamburg:
we’re live from the waterways of central Hamburg. Mayor BDB chatting econ dev strategies w/ @anjes_tjarks & @fegebanks pic.twitter.com/NaHf6jL2Ej
— Eric Phillips (@EricFPhillips) July 7, 2017
#hhbue Präsidentin @carola_veit empfängt New Yorks Bürgermeister
Bill de Blasio @NYCMayor in der Bürgerschaft pic.twitter.com/dxLqPQNkEo— Bürgerschaft Hamburg (@buergerschaftHH) July 7, 2017
