[New York - October 19, 2000] - Around 10:30 pm, 6 activists from the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality and the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB) were visiting some people in an apartment in a building in the Soundview section of the Bronx. They were talking about how to build for October 22, 2000 - the 5th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation.
Soundview is the neighborhood where Amadou Diallo was cut down in a hail of 41 bullets by four New York City cops in Feb., 1999.
The building in which the apartment was located is only three blocks from the scene of Amadou's murder. After the four cops who killed Amadou were acquitted on Feb. 25, 2000, massive outrage followed. Fifteen people were arrested at protests against the verdict that same night in the Soundview neighborhood. One of those arrested was Malcolm Ferguson.
Five days later, on March 1, 2000, Malcolm Ferguson, a 23-year-old Black man, was himself murdered by police in this same apartment building. Malcolm was shot in the back of the head as he lay face-down, unarmed, on a second-floor landing. No charges were brought against the cop who murdered Malcolm.
A few minutes after the last of the activists arrived at the apartment, cops broke down the door and burst in, shields in place, guns drawn. Everyone in the apartment was forced to lie face-down on the floor. The six Oct. 22 and RCYB activists and the four people who lived in the apartment were handcuffed and arrested. A one-year-old baby was in the apartment at the time.
Cops claim they burst in to execute an arrest warrant on one of the occupants in the apartment. But they arrested all ten people there. And one cop was overheard saying, "Were they all there?" Another cop was overheard saying, "These are the communists." This clearly shows that the raid was not about an arrest warrant, and that the timing was not coincidental. The cops knew who they wanted to get and acted accordingly.
All ten people were taken to the 43rd precinct. The men were strip-searched. Cops threatened one woman who lived in the apartment, telling her that they could have child welfare come and take her baby away.
Around 2am, the October 22 Coalition and RCYB activists were released without being charged. They were given slips of paper saying that their cases were still being investigated. The four people who live in the apartment were kept in jail and are reportedly being charged. It is not clear exactly what the charges are, but it appears that the cops are claiming that they found some marijuana in the apartment.
During the course of the arrests and thereafter, the cops completely trashed the apartment.
This is a blatant attempt on the part of the authorities to intimidate people from speaking out against police brutality. It is an attempt to stop the people living their lives under the gun of police brutality from speaking out and letting the world see the truth. It is yet another act of repression in a neighborhood that has already experienced so much repression and brutality, including the murder of two of its sons, Amadou Diallo and Malcolm Ferguson, in the last two years.
The release of the October 22 and RCYB activists and the continued detention of the apartment's residents is a clear attempt at divide-and-conquer. It is a clear attempt to tell people living under the gun of police brutality that if they join the struggle, they will suffer the most dire consequences. We cannot allow such a message to be sent.
Join the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality for a press conference denouncing this latest outrage.
Saturday, October 21, 2000
10:00 am sharp
740 Broadway (near Astor Place), suite 5
For more information, call the October 22 Coalition at 1-888-NO BRUTALITY or 212-477-8062.
[posted 10/21/00]
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