Hundreds of cops have been ordered to bring their “hats and bats” — helmets and old-school wooden nightsticks — to the Rev. Al Sharpton’s march against police brutality, sources said Thursday.
About 350 officers, some on their days off, were told to report to the Staten Island rally at 6 a.m. Saturday, two hours earlier than usual.
And while sources say the NYPD isn’t expecting anything like the riots that have rocked Ferguson, Mo., since a white cop fatally shot a black teen on Aug. 9, they are worried about outside agitators.
“We have no reason to believe there will be any problems. Our only concern is that there will be outsiders coming to cause problems,” a police source said.
Also Thursday, supporters of Eric Garner, the Staten Island man whose death from a police chokehold July 17 prompted the rally, asked US Attorney Loretta Lynch to pursue civil-rights charges against the cop involved.
DA Dan Donovan had already promised to present the case to a grand jury — but Sharpton insisted the feds need to step in.
After the meeting, Garner’s widow, Esaw (above), urged people to join the rally.
“We need a lot of marchers to give justice to my husband. That’s all we want. And peace,” she said.
Some stores on Staten Island will not open during the rally.
“The rally forces a lot of shops to close, and that is really bad for business. I hope it will be nonviolent, but no one can predict,” said Quinn Kay, 40, a worker at Thompkinsville Park Wine & Liquor.
Cops will shut down traffic on the section of Bay Street where Garner died and other streets along the march route to Donovan’s office as needed, the police source said.
A City Hall aide said the march permit was just a technicality – even though an NYPD web page says permits are required – and that the organizers and NYPD had been hammering out the logistics in face-to-face meetings.
Also Thursday, Sharpton told City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito — who planned to go — to stay home.
“We don’t need [council members] marching out there on themselves,” he said.
Additional reporting by Frank Rosario and Yoav Gonen