Hundreds protest police brutality (NYC)

[struggle4progress]

More than 300 protesters gathered outside of City Hall Park yesterday afternoon for Racial Justice Day to remember victims of police brutality and demand an end to policies which allegedly target communities of color, members of the LGBT community, the homeless and those with low income. <snip>

Twelve NYU undergraduates, law students and alumni took part as legal observers in the protest. At one point, they prepared for action at the last two stops on the route, when several water balloons were dropped from the upper floors of the PBA and from One Police Plaza, but protesters ignored them.

Protesters called for the abolition of the 48-hour rule, which allows police officers suspected of wrongdoing two days before they must speak to a ranking officer - enough time, protesters said, for them to construct cover-up stories. Other demands included the creation of a truly independent Civilian Complaint Review Board and the discontinued use of hollow-point, "gangster bullets" in police guns, which some consider unnecessarily lethal.

Democratic City Councilman Charles Barron said, "If we'd had community control, Amadou would still be alive." Diallo, an African immigrant, was shot 19 times on his porch in the Bronx in 1999 after police officers allegedly misidentified him as a rapist they were trying to track down. <snip>

http://www.nyunews.com/news/city/9477.html

[NYC]

1. The police dropped water balloons.

...several water balloons were dropped from the upper floors of the PBA and from One Police Plaza...

I'm speechless.

[drdtroit]

2. It all filters down from the attitude in the White House.

It's OK to be a bigoted racist anti-Semite woman hating unaccountable hubris spewing pseudo-intellectual boorish dilettante, just look at the administration and their cronies.

[frictionlessO]

3. What the heck is that about?! Water Balloons? How freakin' stupid.

Shits gonna get real nasty this Summer I can feel it. Im not leaving my house if it gets over 90` outside.

[NYC]

4. 92 degrees. Do you live in New York?

There used to be a saying/belief/old wives' tale: Crime rises until it reaches 92 degrees. After that, crime drops because it is just too hot to do anything.

Do you remember that? (I haven't thought about it for a long time, but I think it was regarding the number of homicides. 92 degrees was the peak. I doubt this was ever true, but everyone said it.)

[DulceDecorum]

5. Harper's Index

reported once that there were six (?) days in the past year when no homicides were reported and four of those days were Wednesdays.

I think there was also a high single digit number of consecutive almost-crime-free days in that winter when the temps were below zero and nobody was venturing outdoors.

[frictionlessO]

7. WNY...

Near Buffalo. I seem to recall something similar though just about everywhere I lived now that you mention it.

My experience is that the hotter it gets the crazier people get, especially right after nightfall. Cools down a lil bit and they have to make up for lost time.

[struggle4progress]

8. Evidence of a lack of impulse control ... eom

[phusion]

9. Wow.

That is amazing...Police (or at least PBA representatives) dropping water balloons? How do they get away w/ that? I understand it's a rather innocuous act, but still...whose side are they on here?

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. Policy brutality has been going on for decades

it good to see people finally paying attention to this issue.

[hector459]

10. Uh, why isn't Bush called a brutal President? Saddam was?

Didn't we hold Saddam responsible for every friggin thing that his police and government officials did in Iraq? Why isn't the same true for Bush? Republicans=American Baathists?