Tompkins Square Park Speak Out Quashed by NYPD

http://Mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/September.16.1996.22.28.19

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  • This Event Happened in Lower East Side,NYC
    pdr.domain1.echo.net. 

    • Hey, mister Man... DON'T TREAD ON ME! It was
a beautiful Thursday evening (August 14th) when
squatters and their supporters gathered on the
corner of 7th Street and Avenue A. Expressing
outrage over the previous days early morning
police eviction of squatters on 13th Street,
speaker after speaker sought to link the
squatter's plight to the situation facing all poor
and working people in this neighborhood. The cuts
in welfare, health care and rent subsidies will
most certainly result in more homelessness and
suffering.

At about 7pm the crowd, which numbered about 100
people, including musicians who were leading the
group in songs, giving the event a "civil rights
march" kind of feeling, began to parade peacefully
across Tompkins Square Park, from 7th and A, to
the 9th Street and Avenue B park entrance/exit.
Upon reaching 9th and B, while still in the park,
the police linked arms and closed off the park
exit! Suddenly another group of cops stormed from
the rear of the march and closed in on the 20-30
people who happened to be at the head of the
march, linking arms and trapping them, eventually
pushing and shoving them, cuffing them and
arresting 27. No one had provoked their action. No
on had acted in such a way as to justify this
treatment!

When friends called the 9th Precinct to enquire as
to their friends they were told they wouldn't get
any info because "they might be enemies of these
persons" (ha) or, what another cop at Central
Booking stated, "oh, those anarchists should be
beaten up". Rabbi Issac Freid, a local religious
leader who was a participant in the march, leading
the people in prayers and meditation, was also
brutally arrested, suffering from a nervous
condition which was blatently ignored despite the
pleas for medical attention made by others who
were arrested.

Immediately following this overt act of political
repression, it was learned in discussions with our
attorneys that the "park regulation" that was used
to provide a cover for this blatent violation of
our rights was up to now rarely used, and further,
that the violation was a ticketable offense. In
other words, on a par with beer drinking
violations. We were told that not only was the
subsequent cuffing and arrest outrageous but that
under no circumstances should the people be held
overnight. In fact, people were released last
evening (Friday, August 19th), 48 hours after they
were assaulted by the by the police!

According to the testimony of those who were
arrested, they were not only photographed and made
the subjects of detailed dossiers, they were strip
searched as well! What is the purpose of this
obvious escalation of police/Guliani tactics? The
mayor thinks that he can limit resistance to
injustice by limiting our ability to function
"within the law". His attempt to outlaw protest
will fail. The great majority of people are
unwilling to buy into the type of authoritarian
police state facism that he's pushing, while
squatters reject the legitimacy of laws that
sanction injustice and promote suffering. This
unwise, though predictable action on the part of
the enemy is a testament to their undemocratic,
unconstitutional methods, while it also shows how
desperate they really are...

STOP POLICE REPRESSION OF FREE SPEECH AND
ASSEMBLY!

DEFEND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST! JAIL GHOULIANI!

FREE ALL THOSE ARRESTED, DROP THE BOGUS CHARGES!

STAY TUNED TO 88.7FM (EVENINGS) FOR UPDATES AND
INFO...

CHECK IN OR CALL BLACK OUT BOOKS, 50 AVENUE B,
777-1967.

PEACE... POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

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