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News and reports
February 1, 2002 | Page 10 OTHER STORIES BELOW Protest Cincinnati police violence By Eric Kerl MORE THAN 150 activists rallied in a Cincinnati suburb January 21 to protest a killer cop's first day at a new job. Last April, Stephen Roach--then a Cincinnati cop--killed a young unarmed Black man, Timothy Thomas, sparking days of protests and rioting. Roach was acquitted of criminal charges, despite the fact that he changed his story about the shooting three times. He eventually quit the force in Cincinnati. But Roach is now back patrolling the streets in the suburb of Evendale. The village is mostly white, but an increasing number of Blacks and other minorities have moved in. In an attempt to avoid opposition, city officials used an emergency ordinance to rush through Roach's hiring. But residents turned out to council meetings to show their anger at the hiring. And on January 21, anti-police brutality activists rallied outside the Evendale Municipal Complex--carrying bottles of bug spray and chanting "No Roaches in Evendale!" Defend the rights of Arabs and Muslims By Lucy Herschel MORE THAN 100 people rallied in New York City January 26 to protest the detention of Arabs and Muslims on unknown charges as part of the "war on terrorism." The demonstration, held in front of the Metropolitan Federal Detention Center in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, was called by a coalition of antiwar, civil liberties and Arab and Muslim organizations. Pakistani immigrant Uzma Naheed described her family's ordeal after government agents invaded her home soon after September 11 and took her husband into custody. For three and a half months, officials at the detention center insisted that Uzma's husband wasn't at the facility. When she finally saw him, he was shackled hand and foot. "My husband has lived and worked here for 10 years," she told the crowd. "Before September 11, we had no idea that something like this could happen to us." Naheed's two sons spoke to the crowd, saying that they're called "terrorists" in school and demanding that the officials responsible for detaining their father explain their actions. Protesters vowed to return to the Brooklyn detention facility every Saturday until officials reveal the names of detainees and what they're charged with. North Carolina antiwar protest By Sara Ward HUNDREDS OF people from North Carolina and surrounding states showed up in the pouring rain in Raleigh, N.C., January 18 for an antiwar march and rally. After a two-mile march from Martin Luther King Garden to the State Capitol, some 500 people attended a rally at the Exploris Museum. Rania Masri, of the Palestinian group Al-Awda, spoke about the continued racist assault on Arabs at home and abroad. Among the other speakers were David Potorti and Amber Amundson, relatives of victims of the September 11 attacks who have been touring the country to get out their message of opposition to the war. "I didn't want anyone else to feel what I'm feeling," said Amundson, whose husband died in the attack on the Pentagon. "That's been the driving force behind what we're doing." Activists organized other antiwar events to build for the march and rally, including a teach-in in Greensboro and a demonstration at Elon University during a visit by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.
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