CIVIL RIGHTS
Cops Turn Violent on Queer Protesters in Manhattan
Demonstrators targeted by NYPD in bloody Tuesday evening scene in the Village
BY MATT TRACY
A powerful demonstration
at the Stonewall
Inn on June 2 shined a
much-needed spotlight
on recent deadly violence targeting
Black transgender individuals, but
shortly after the city’s new 8 p.m.
curfew the NYPD pounced on the
queer peaceful protesters, punching
them and beating them with
batons before rounding them up
and arresting them, activists said.
Thousands of folks gathered
at Stonewall for a 5 p.m. protest
to highlight the cases of Black
transgender victims of deadly violence
and police murders, including
the deaths last month of Tony
McDade, a Black transgender man
shot to death by police in Tallahassee,
Florida, and Nina Pop, a Black
transgender woman who was
stabbed to death by an assailant
in her Missouri apartment.
DecrimNY, the coalition aiming
to comprehensively decriminalize
sex work in New York City,
helped take the lead on organizing
the event. In a continuation of the
nationwide protests sparked by
the police killing of George Floyd
in Minneapolis, the protest that
started at Stonewall and continued
in the streets marked an opportunity
for the community to also pay
respects to fallen Black trans folks
who have disproportionately been
the victims of violent killings. The
demonstration marked the second
straight night of action near the
site of the historic gay bar commemorating
the lives of queer and
other people of color who died at
the hands of police.
“Trans women of color were centered,
they controlled their space,
they held the park… it was powerful,”
activist Jay W. Walker, who
was on hand for the Stonewall
demonstration, told Gay City News.
“The speeches were raw, full of anger,
full of emotion, but always,
from beginning to end, a peaceful
protest.”
But it was also the second
straight night of curfew imposed
on the city — this time at 8 p.m.
Among the demands at the June 2 Sheridan Square rally was that white Americans end their silence
about the evils of anti-Black violence.
Activist Jason Rosenberg after his release from police custody.
after an 11 p.m. curfew on June 1
— and activists said law enforcement
offi cers were emboldened by
the early cutoff.
“I was here in ‘85 and I remember
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it was a particularly corrupt
group of cops whose slogan in the
late ‘80s was ‘we own the night,’”
Walker recalled. “This 8 o’clock
curfew is literally Bill de Blasio giving
NYPD ownership of the night
without anyone to observe them.”
After the activists began marching
from Stonewall along the west
side of Manhattan, several activists
were arrested, including Jason
Rosenberg and Marti Gould
Cummings, who is seeking a Manhattan
City Council seat in 2021.
Cummings said they were arrested
at 8:15 and Rosenberg, whose face
was seen bloodied on social media
posts, said in a video he uploaded
that individuals were peacefully
locked arm-in-arm when cops barrelled
in and hit him with batons
and punches, forcing him to receive
medical treatment for an arm
injury and cuts to his head. In that
video which he posted after he was
released, a bloodied Rosenberg
said he and others were arrested at
the intersection of East 14th Street
and Fifth Avenue.
“We were peacefully protesting…
and we started to see some escalation
and we sorta kept moving and
a lot of us linked arms in solidarity
and civil disobedience, which is
not resisting arrest,” he said.
“And we were all thrown to the
ground,” Rosenberg added, explaining
that he was hit by a baton
and punches. “I was beaten on all
sides.”
Prep4AllNow, an activist group
dedicated to improving access to
HIV prevention medication, fi rst
expressed concern in a tweet
shortly after midnight on June 3
showing a photo of Rosenberg detained
with blood on his face. Out
gay State Senator Brad Hoylman
remained active on social media at
the time, vowing to fi nd out where
authorities were holding Rosenberg,
Cummings, and other activists
rounded up by cops.
On Wednesday morning, Cummings
explained they were released
at 7:20 a.m., roughly 11 hours after
being arrested. Cummings said
they were denied an opportunity to
make a phone call and were never
read their Miranda rights.
“In cuffs for four hours,” Cummings
wrote. “No clean masks.
➤ POLICE VIOLENCE, continued on p.35
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