May 8, 2008
Over 200 Arrests During Sean Bell Pray-ins/ Protests
Photograph of the Reverend Al Sharpton by Armchair Messiah on Flickr
Two hundred sixteen people were arrested during pray-ins protesting the acquittals of three police detectives in the shooting of Sean Bell. The NY Times called the demonstrations "carefully orchestrated," as hundreds of (perhaps a thousand) people gathered at six different locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, blocking traffic and attracting arrest.
The Reverend Al Sharpton, Bell's fiancee Nicole Paultre Bell, and Bell's two friends who were with him the night he was fatally shot, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, were all arrested at the Brooklyn Bridge protest. The Daily News reported a police lieutenant yelling to Sharpton and others, when they were attempting to march across the bridge, "you are unlawfully obstructing vehicular traffic...I order you to leave the roadway now."
But "Sharpton refused, dropped to his knees and started praying." They were all released around 9 p.m. The NYPD said, "Both the civil disobedience and the resulting arrests were conducted in an orderly fashion."
Sharpton and the Bell family will be meeting with Governor Paterson this afternoon. Also, Sharpton's National Action Network is planning another protest in the next seven to ten days. NAN national acting director Charlie King said, "Yesterday was the beginning of a long and sustained campaign of civil disobedience."
|
Ugh, enough of this already.
Thank goodness they locked up those old ladies. Who knows what havoc they could have caused if the cops hadn't intervened?
To be honest, I'm surprised no one was shot.
I predict another 50+ comments... c'mon race-baiters, trolls and cubicle pundits! make this happen! (ugh.)
Come on all of you who want to say ugh and tell everyone else just how tired you are of these comments, while making such comments yourself. Let's do this!
#3, I bet they hit 100 before too long...
Touché, my boy. Touché.
Researchers should name a disease after Sharpton.
100 shots? very doubtful...
"We are all Sean Bell."
I wish! Then maybe the streets would have been empty and I could have taken the tunnel home yesterday.
Seriously though, these protests mean nothing and will change nothing. They look like a bunch of simple minded dummies.
While I don't always agree with Al Sharpton, I do have immense respect for him.
I'm glad he (and all those other people did this) and I'm also glad it was such a peaceful demonstration.
Hat's off to the demonstrators and to the officers who managed this situation well.
Hi Asian posters!
I encountered the cops at the brooklyn bridge yesterday. I was trying to ride my bike home from work and politely asked one lady cop if I'd have trouble crossing, she said no you should be fine. I went two more steps and realized the sidewalk cut where I usually enter was blocked by cops and the whole scene, so I turned around, only to be yelled at by a fat old gray haired cop screaming at me that I couldn't ride on the roadway. I said I wasn't, I'm trying to go on the bike path, he then screamed to turn around go to Chambers! I was on Chambers so I was confused, I said well can I just enter at that path entrance right behind you? NO YOU CAN'T RIDE ON THE ROADWAY GO TO CHAMBERS!!! What? The lady cop said I could cross the bridge and you don't need to yell at me sir I can hear you, I don't want the roadway, I want the bike path. YOU HAVE THOSE STUPID EARPHONES, IN YOU CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING! No officer, I have my earphones out so I can hear just fine, calm the hell down... The lady cop then declared that had told me to go to Chambers to enter, which she didn't, and to tell someone to enter at Chambers when you're on Chambers instead of saying, just enter across the street there is totally asking for an argument. I resisted asking him if his gun was loaded... very exasperating all around. I have no issues with them staging these protests, it sure showed how well cops can handle a could be, potentially, just might, turn into a tense situation.
Both the civil disobedience and the resulting arrests were conducted in an orderly fashion.
No kidding. Both Bloomberg and Sharpton are all about looking good. At the demo I was at the white shirt officer came up to the demo facillitator to ask him, "At what point would you like us to begin arresting you?" Please sir, would you care to tell us what the signal shall be to inform us that you care to be arrested.
Bloomberg's dungeon full of image management geeks outdid themselves on this one. The NYPD handled the demonstrators with kid gloves. The grannies who were arrested had to argue with the arresting officers to put plastic cuffs on them which the officers refused to do. It's all about looking good and grannies in cuffs looks bad.
So who won on Wednesday? Sean Bell? His widow? Nahhhh, Bloomberg and Al Sharpton won. Two managers of public outrage coming together to help each other out with their public images.
"we're all sick of this blame game"
take some responsibility for your community
Firehoses! Where were the water cannons! Huh?
200 people in six locations? that's a pathetic 40 people per demonstration. Who the fuck gives a shit? NOBODY! hahahahh. sharpton got Powned!
my bad. my calculations were off. it's a even worse pathetic 33 people per demonstration. More people lined up for free Ben & Jerry's free cone day in 4 minutes than demonstrated for that loser Sharpton.
"Yesterday was the beginning of a long and sustained campaign of civil disobedience."
In your dreams. Participation will dwindle from this paltry (or is that Paultre?) beginning and this will be forgotten within a month, if not sooner. The only people who might keep attending these events are those with no jobs and nothing better to do.
Why isn't Sharpton over in Philly protesting the swarm of cops who beat three drug suspects?
God damn America!
#16: There were in fact 200 people in EACH location.
How could there be only 200 overall when 216 people got arrested?
The comment predictions in this thread were terrible.
#20 - 200 people per is still not a high number and if they didn't get arrested then they weren't really protesting and demonstrating as they were either tourists or cowards.
Thank you, Tim. You are the moral center of Gothamist. Now go plant a fucking tree or something.
Sharpton was a fool and an idiot to talk big about "shutting down New York", knowing that a: nobody cares, and b: he has no power over anyone with an I.Q. over 70. If he was a rabbi, he could proclaim that he had a 'minyan' and be done with it. But he's not a rabbi: he's a bloviating preacher from the old school and this flaccid protestile dysfunction is going to follow him like toilet paper stuck to his shoe. Sharpton will henceforth be outraged exclusively on T.V. His live performances suck so now he's just a "studio artist".