At the exact time Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was live-streaming her “Madden” NFL video game session with vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, on Twitch, her constituents were taking to the streets to protest rampant illegal prostitution and crime in the neighborhood she represents.
The progressive “Squad” member was slammed by fellow Democrat politician Hiram Monserrate for playing the video game on the streaming service Sunday afternoon while residents from her district held a rally calling for their community to be cleaned up.
“We need advocates not gamers,” Monserrate, a former New York state senator who is running for State Assembly, told Fox News Digital.
The Queens neighborhood is well known as a “Red Light” district, with some residents comparing the unsanitary and seedy conditions to a “Third World” country. Organizers of the rally say the area is “under criminal siege” while protesters carried signs reading, “children should not be exposed to prostitution,” and, “save our community.”
Ocasio-Cortez and Walz jumped on the streaming service during NFL Sunday games to secure more support from male voters before Election Day. Both were scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. Sunday.
DEMOCRAT POL CHASED AWAY IN AOC’S ‘RED LIGHT’ DISTRICT AFTER BACKING POLICE CRACKDOWN ON OPEN-AIR PROSTITUTION
“Shame on any of the elected who did not show to the public safety rally nor advocated against the failed policies like defending the police which have proven catastrophic to our community,” Monserrate told Fox News Digital.
The gathering – which brought together local leaders, residents, merchants and clergy members – sought to draw attention to crime in the neighborhood and show support for a police clampdown on the illegal activity called “Operation Restore Roosevelt.” The operation aims to crack down on miscreant behavior over the next few weeks with more than 200 extra police officers deployed to the area, including state troopers. The demonstration was organized by Monserrate and the local advocacy group Let’s Improve Roosevelt Ave. Coalition.
Sex workers have been known to line the streets while illegal vendors clog sidewalks selling hot food and assorted merchandise. Several other raids have taken place since the operation went into effect two weeks ago.
Demonstrators say they want the extra boots on the ground to be a permanent fixture in the area. Monserrate says that well over 300 people attended the rally in Queens where they demanded a two-mile strip of Roosevelt Avenue be cleaned up.
SOCIALIST GROUP IN AOC DISTRICT BLASTS POLICE CRACKDOWN IN HER CRIME-RIDDEN AREA
Last month, Fox News Digital cameras recorded a line of at least 19 alleged sex workers scantily-clad on a sidewalk on one block along Roosevelt Avenue. Around the corner, there were at least seven others, and a woman on the next block was witnessed offering sex for $60.
Fox News Digital even recorded an alleged sex worker and her client emerging from a well-known brothel that has been raided at least twice in recent weeks. The rally took place just feet from that location.
WATCH: Democrat politician chased away in AOC’s district after backing police crackdown on open-air prostitution
“The Roosevelt Avenue Corridor was under criminal siege where various organized crime entities, drug rings, human traffickers, pimps, prostitutes, and shoplifting syndicates operated with impunity. Roosevelt Avenue had become an Urban Crime Zone,” the group said in a press release.
The rally came just days after Monserrate was chased out of a public square in the neighborhood while he was speaking to the press while a demonstration in favor of prostitution and illegal vending was taking place.
“Understand this, organized crime is running a multimillion-dollar operation of human and drug trafficking,” Monserrate said. “That is what we have here on Roosevelt Avenue! 911 Alert to all governing. We will tirelessly defend this community and call out those who oppose a better and safer community for all.”
The Roosevelt Avenue strip is represented by “Squad” member Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rep. Grace Meng. Ocasio-Cortez and Meng did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the rally. Monserrate said neither Meng nor Ocasio-Cortez have responded to his requests to attend rallies to clean up the streets of Roosevelt Avenue.
The battle between sex workers and illegal vendors on one hand, and law and order proponents on the other, has been brewing in the neighborhood for years.
Many sex workers and illegal vendors who operate in the area are migrants. With limited English and difficulty accessing legitimate work, they say they are forced onto the streets to survive and maintain that what they do does not hurt anybody.
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Other residents say that conditions have deteriorated, and their neighborhood is almost unrecognizable.
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