This is just despicable. On the fifth anniversary celebration night of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, an organization that provides free legal services and advocacy to low-income people of color who are transgender, gender non-conforming or intersex, two of their community members were attacked and arrested without warning by the 9th precinct of the NYC Police Department, as well as others being pepper sprayed in the face. Via their press release:
A group of our community members, consisting largely of queer and transgender people of color, witnessed two officers attempting to detain a young Black man outside of the bar. Several of our community members asked the officers why they were making the arrest and using excessive force. Despite the fact that our community was on the sidewalk, gathered peacefully and not obstructing foot traffic, the NYPD chose to forcefully grab two people and arrested them. Without warning, an officer then sprayed pepper spray across the group in a wide arc, temporarily blinding many and causing vomiting and intense pain.
"This is the sort of all-too-common police violence and overreaction towards people of color that happens all the time," said SRLP founder Dean Spade. "It's ironic that we were celebrating the work of an organization that specifically opposes state violence against marginalized communities, and we experienced a police attack at our celebration. . . We are outraged, and demand that our community members be released and the police be held accountable for unnecessary use of excessive force and falsely arresting people."
Supporters will be gathering at 100 Centre Street today, where the two community members will be arraigned. So if anyone is around the NYC area, make sure to go and show your support.
Thanks to Radical Doula for the heads up.
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Jesus?
What was the reason given by the police that they were arrested at all?
Jesus.
What was the reason given by the police that they were arrested at all?
The hearing at 100 Centre Street will begin around 2pm for those interested. I guess that is now...
Any details from someone neutral? I don't generally trust the police when they say force was
justified." But I don't always trust police watchdog groups either.
There's biased reporting on both sides. And there are too many legal conclusions here for my taste: instead of posting facts, it's all how the officers were trying to detain someone "using excessive force" and how the group was "gathered peacefully" and "not obstructing" and so on.
Looking forward to the hearing.
Any details from someone neutral? I don't generally trust the police when they say force was
justified." But I don't always trust police watchdog groups either.
There's biased reporting on both sides. And there are too many legal conclusions here for my taste: instead of posting facts, it's all how the officers were trying to detain someone "using excessive force" and how the group was "gathered peacefully" and "not obstructing" and so on.
Looking forward to the hearing.
I have to agree with Sailorman. I'd like to know what really happened and I'm not willing to rush into protest until I know the facts.
From what I could tell last night: a group of queer and trans people, many of color, were gathered outside the bar where the fundraiser after-party was going on, talking and having a cigarette. Some of the attendees noticed a young black man being stopped by the police, who began arresting him. I am not sure if this man was part of the party or not. The police became agitated when the attendees (many of whom are lawyers, law students and legal workers since this WAS, after all, a fundraiser for a legal nonprofit) began questioning them on the nature of the arrest. The police demanded that everyone disburse and pepper sprayed an arc around them, leaving a number of individuals, including those who weren't involved in conversation with police, crying, vomiting, and collapsed on the sidewalk. After this, some people ran to get water, and others attempted (and eventually received) the badge numbers and names of the arresting officers, and asked bystanders to write them down. After this, Dean Spade asked the crowd to go back inside, and I walked away since it was getting close to bedtime for me. This is as much as I could tell.
I still do not know what the two attendees were arrested for, nor what the young black man was detained (and arrested?) for.
This is just my account of what happened as an observer & law student. I am not making claims that I'm neutral (nor is anybody involved in this, obviously), but I've attempted to chronicle the facts of the evening to the best of my ability.
I would also like to point out that these events happen against the background of a pattern of police abuse against transpeople (largely of color). This is not an opinion, it is a fact. Amnesty International has a report on this: http://www.amnestyusa.org/Stonewalled_A_Report/Statement_of_Mariah_Lopez/page.do?id=1106613&n1=3&n2=36&n3=1121
Transpeople in New York City (can't speak for other areas) can and do get arrested simply for being on the street at night. They are presumed to be sex workers and often cited for "soliciting" or "loitering with intent to solicit". Again, this is not rumor or me surmising, I have witnessed police telling transwomen to get off the street at night, keep moving, etc -- whether or not they were sex workers. They have told me and others to keep moving because we were talking to a transwoman on the street at night. When transpeople complain to the police of abuse, harassment, assault and rape, they can, and do get arrested for stuff like above. The young woman detailed in the Amnesty report above is not an anomaly - this happens all the time. When transwomen do get arrested, for legitimate or illegitimate reasons, they are often placed in facilities by their "birth sex", where they are at enormous risk for abuse, rape and sexual assault.
Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to provide some background on the situation and contribute to the conversation.
From what I could tell last night: a group of queer and trans people, many of color, were gathered outside the bar where the fundraiser after-party was going on, talking and having a cigarette. Some of the attendees noticed a young black man being stopped by the police, who began arresting him. I am not sure if this man was part of the party or not. The police became agitated when the attendees (many of whom are lawyers, law students and legal workers since this WAS, after all, a fundraiser for a legal nonprofit) began questioning them on the nature of the arrest. The police demanded that everyone disburse and pepper sprayed an arc around them, leaving a number of individuals, including those who weren't involved in conversation with police, crying, vomiting, and collapsed on the sidewalk. After this, some people ran to get water, and others attempted (and eventually received) the badge numbers and names of the arresting officers, and asked bystanders to write them down. After this, Dean Spade asked the crowd to go back inside, and I walked away since it was getting close to bedtime for me. This is as much as I could tell.
I still do not know what the two attendees were arrested for, nor what the young black man was detained (and arrested?) for.
This is just my account of what happened as an observer & law student. I am not making claims that I'm neutral (nor is anybody involved in this, obviously), but I've attempted to chronicle the facts of the evening to the best of my ability.
I would also like to point out that these events happen against the background of a pattern of police abuse against transpeople (largely of color). This is not an opinion, it is a fact. Amnesty International has a report on this: http://www.amnestyusa.org/Stonewalled_A_Report/Statement_of_Mariah_Lopez/page.do?id=1106613&n1=3&n2=36&n3=1121
Transpeople in New York City (can't speak for other areas) can and do get arrested simply for being on the street at night. They are presumed to be sex workers and often cited for "soliciting" or "loitering with intent to solicit". Again, this is not rumor or me surmising, I have witnessed police telling transwomen to get off the street at night, keep moving, etc -- whether or not they were sex workers. They have told me and others to keep moving because we were talking to a transwoman on the street at night. When transpeople complain to the police of abuse, harassment, assault and rape, they can, and do get arrested for stuff like above. The young woman detailed in the Amnesty report above is not an anomaly - this happens all the time. When transwomen do get arrested, for legitimate or illegitimate reasons, they are often placed in facilities by their "birth sex", where they are at enormous risk for abuse, rape and sexual assault.
Sorry this is so long, I just wanted to provide some background on the situation and contribute to the conversation.
so sorry about the double post, i kept getting a 500 Internal Error after hitting "post" and thought it wasn't going through.
alex, sorry to hijack your story here, but I've been getting 500 errors almost every time I submit a comment. I generally ignore it because the comment seems to go through anyway. But too many people have been double and treble posting because of it. It's not helping things...