OntheWilderSide

Video of police spraying tear gas inside the building, and pushing a demonstrator. Very difficult to watch. Difficult to believe this is America: here.
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The New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild has demanded that the students at the New School who have been wrongfully arrested during a student protest this morning regarding the school’s administration be immediately released.

According to the New York Times, Paul J. Brown, the NYPD’s Chief Spokesperson stated that the Police Department was asked to arrest individuals trespassing on the property, further claiming that the operation “was done in a very organized, orderly fashion.”

However, Yetta Kurland, an attorney with the New York City Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild stated that there are reports that the NYPD also made arrests outside of the New School while chasing people down on sidewalks far removed from the alleged trespass.  “The video tape that has surfaced, http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/10/students-occupy-new-school-building-again/?hp, which you can see on the front page of the New York Times blog makes clear that not only were the NYPD arresting peaceful individuals, these individuals were not in the New School and in no way trespassing.

The video shows one of those individuals being struck by a police officer without cause or reason and then wrongfully arrested.  Especially, in light of this being a holiday afternoon before a holiday weekend, we are calling on the NYPD to release immediately all those arrested.”

Filed under: Action Alert!, activism, News, Press Release Tagged: | New School, new york city, police