More than 10,000 people have been arrested for demonstrations after the death of George Floyd, according to an AP tally. The count has grown by the hundreds each day as the protests continue to spill into the street and encounter a heavy police presence.

Meanwhile, New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Thursday, that the city "absolutely" does not need active duty U.S. military soldiers to keep the demonstrations under control.

Shea also called for calm Thursday at a news conference that opened with a broadside against elected officials and others whom he blamed for stirring up animosity by speaking against police and sharing videos on social media that, presented without context, are seen as evidence of officer misconduct.

"How do we move forward?" Shea asked. "I do not know how we will get there. I wish I had all the answers, but I know this much. We cannot reach that place until we end the hateful speech and the law breaking and the unprovoked attacks against police officers and the rhetoric that fuels."

On Wednesday, an ambush stabbing happened in New York. Officer Yayonfrant Jean Pierre was stabbed in the neck while on an anti-looting patrol, spurring a struggle that saw the suspect shot and two other officers sustaining gunshot injuries to their hands. Jean Pierre and the other officers, Randy Ramnarine and Dexter Chiu, are expected to recover, police said.

Shea said it was too early in the investigation to say what motivated Wednesday night's attack, but police union head Patrick Lynch said he saw a connection to the protests.

The suspect, 20-year-old Dzenan Camovic, was hospitalized in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, Shea said. He has yet to be charged and the case could end up in the hands of federal prosecutors, with the FBI saying it would use "every federal statute available to hold the perpetrator accountable." Information on Camovic's lawyer was not immediately available.

Wednesday's stabbing happened a block from a spot where demonstrators and police engaged days earlier in an hours long standoff, during which a police car was burned and protesters were beaten with batons.

Shea said the attacker casually approached two officers stationed in the area to prevent pilfering around 11:45 p.m. and stabbed one — Jean Pierre, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Jean Pierre is a Haitian immigrant, and Ramnarine and Chiu are children of immigrants, de Blasio said.

They represent "all that is great about New York City," de Blasio said. "They represented the fact that people come from all over this country, all over this world, to find a better life ... and then some choose to serve all of us."

The stabbing was one of multiple assaults on police officers in recent days, including a driver plowing into a sergeant in the Bronx, a lieutenant struck in the helmet by a brick during a brawl in Manhattan, a Molotov cocktail thrown into a van full of officers in Brooklyn, and gunshots fired at an occupied police cruiser in Queens.

Hours after the Brooklyn ambush, police in Queens shot a man they said followed two officers into a store, menaced them with a knife and refused commands to drop the weapon. He is hospitalized in stable condition, police said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the attacks on police officers "unconscionable."

At the same time, police have been criticized for harsh tactics to corral protesters and enforce the curfew. More than 350 current and former members of de Blasio's administration published an open letter Thursday denouncing brutality, such as officers swatting protesters with batons, a police vehicle driven into a crowd and an officer seen throwing a woman to the ground.

New York had the second most arrests according to AP tally with about 2,000 people, and Los Angeles has the most. Many of the arrests have been for low-level offenses such as curfew violations and failure to disperse. Hundreds were arrested on burglary and looting charges.

Kath Rogers, executive director of the Los Angeles office of the National Lawyers Guild, said she was surprised by the huge number of arrests in that city.

"I've been here for two years and we go to hundreds of demonstrations, but I've never seen rubber bullets flying like this, tear gas used this way," she said.

It is not known how many of the people arrested were locked up — an issue at a time when many of the nation's jails are dealing with coronavirus outbreaks. The protesters are often placed in zip-ties and hauled away from the scene in buses.

In Los Angeles, an online fundraising campaign has gathered two million U.S. dollars so far to help more than 3,000 people arrested in demonstrations since Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis.

As cities were engulfed in unrest last week, politicians claimed that the majority of the protesters were outside agitators, including a contention by Minnesota's governor that 80 percent of the participants in the demonstrations were from out of state.

The arrests in Minneapolis during a frenzied weekend tell a different story. In a nearly 24-hour period from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, 41 of the 52 people cited with protest-related arrests had Minnesota driver's licenses, according to the Hennepin County sheriff.

In the nation's capital, 86 percent of the more than 400 people arrested as of Wednesday afternoon were from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

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(With input from agencies)