#OWS Calls for NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly To Resign

Yesterday, members of the New York City Council decried the NYPD´s behavior on the March 17th re-eviction of Liberty Square. Today, Occupy Wall Street will call for the resignation of NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly for authorizing brutality and extreme abuse of police power. At 11am ET, we will march from Foley Square to a 12 noon press conference at 1 Police Plaza. Speakers will include victims of NYPD´s racist ¨Stop and Frisk¨ policies and targeted harassment of the Muslim community, as well as survivors of NYPD violence both within and outside Occupy Wall Street. We will also hear from family members of innocent people shot dead by NYPD in Queens.

Kelly´s criminal actions extend far beyond waging a war on dissidents. He was also Commissioner during the infamous Sean Bell case, in which three men of color were shot a total of fifty times by plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers. Under Kelly´s watch, Sean Bell´s killers were never punished. Also under Kelly´s leadership, NYPD has consistently targeted marginalized communities. Just a few months ago, a transgender woman was arrested for a minor subway violation and relentlessly harassed by transphobic and homophobic NYPD officers — who kept her chained to a fence for 28 hours. She is but one of many survivors of outrageous discrimination and violence perpetrated by NYPD under Kelly´s command.

We say, no more! We will not tolerate this abuse, nor wait for another senseless death or hate crime. In solidarity with all communities targeted by NYPD´s violent tactics of repression, we demand Commissioner Kelly step down immediately.

NYCGA Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: press@occupywallst.org, 347-292-1444

OWS Members in Solidarity with Brutalized Communities; Demand Comm. Kelly’s Resignation

New York–Around 11:30pm, Saturday March 17th, over one hundred NYPD officers stormed into Liberty Square and began to brutally arrest people peacefully using the park resulting in over 90 arrests, five hospitalizations, several broken bones, and one woman who was denied access to emergency medical care after suffering a seizure. Today, Occupy Wall Street will march, rally and speak out against the violent suppression of Occupy by the Bloomberg Administration and NYPD; stand in solidarity with communities routinely brutalized by police; and demand the resignation of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

WHAT: Rally/Press Conference with OWS
WHEN: Tuesday, March 20, 12pm
WHERE: One Police Plaza, New York City
WHO: Speakers to include members of OWS who were brutalized, as well as relatives and those who have been beaten, murdered and racially profiled by NYPD.

In the wake of Saturday’s abuse of power and damage to cherished Constitutional rights, Occupy Wall Street members demand accountability:

• The immediate dismissal/resignation of Police Commissioner Kelley
• Drop all charges from Occupy related arrests
• Respect the long-established right to use and freely access Liberty Square 24/7

The NYPD has a long history of abuse and repression. Just since January they have practiced: a campaign of surveillance, entrapment, and violence against the New York Muslim and Muslim-American communities; a campaign of terror against communities of color, most recently the brutal beating of Jatiek Reed and the senseless murder of Rahmarley Graham in the Bronx; sustained the criminal and dehumanizing tactic of “stop and frisk” in a campaign of racial profiling that serves no law enforcement purpose; and systematically oppressed protestors peaceably assembling in public spaces.

These acts of violence and trampling of our civil rights illustrate the very nature of oppression by the banks, by our government and by Bloomberg’s “private army.” The aggressive and brutal suppression of activists and Occupy Wall Street is a clear indictment of the true purpose of the NYPD–to protect money and power, the 1%.

OWS and community allies are organizing a “Let Freedom Spring” march, in response to the NYPD attacks, on Saturday, March 24, starting at 12pm in Liberty Square (formerly Zuccotti Park) and ending at Union Square.

Occupy Wall Street is part of an international people powered movement fighting for economic justice in the face of neoliberal economic practices, the crimes of Wall Street, and a government controlled by monied interests. #OWS is the 99% organizing to end the tyranny of the 1%. For more info www.occupywallst.org and www.nycga.net