U.S.
Brown University students shout Commissioner Kelly off the stage as he attempted lecture on policing
More than 100 Ivy League students protested the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy and accused the department of discrimination against blacks and Muslims. Kelly had planned a lecture titled ‘Proactive Policing in America’s Biggest City’ but was driven out of the hall as students shouted over him.
Comments (347)BY CONNOR MCGUIGAN IN PROVIDENCE, R.I. AND CORKY SIEMASZKO / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
PUBLISHED: TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013, 6:11 PM
UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013, 11:18 AM
CHITOSE SUZUKI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Brown University sophomore Rudy Torress (left) rallies with other students and their supporters outside of the Brown University building where New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was to deliver his lecture.
New York City's top cop got stopped and dissed Tuesday by student protesters at Brown University.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was supposed to talk up the NYPD’s crimefighting efforts at the the Ivy League school in Providence, R.I., but he got booed off the stage after barely getting any words in edgewise.
“From N.Y.C. to PVD, stop police brutality,” they chanted as Kelly fled the stage.
CONNOR MCGUIGAN
Brown students demonstrated against the NYPD's policies, including the surveillance of Muslims and stop and frisk.
Invited to deliver a lecture on “Proactive Policing in America’s Biggest City,” Kelly must have realized he was stepping into a buzz saw when he arrived at the school’s arts center.
Kelly was greeted by protesters carrying signs that read “Stop & Frisk Doesn’t Stop Crime,” “Stop Police Brutality” and “Ray(cist) Kelly.”
CHITOSE SUZUKI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Protesters were so disruptive during Commissioner Kelly's talk that the event was canceled.
But the Brown-out really began when Kelly — dressed in a dark suit and red tie — stepped up to the mic and the 100 or so students packed in the room began lecturing him.
“You hide behind your statistics of lower crime rates, but the residents of East Flatbush, Brownsville, East New York, do not feel safer than they did in 2001,” said Danny Echevarria, a Brown student from Brooklyn, class of 2016.
“Instituting systematic racism in New York City is a disgrace,” another student chimed in.
CHITOSE SUZUKI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Ray Kelly got anything but a cool reception at Brown University in Rhode Island.
And so it went as student after student piped up with protests, some read from index cards.
“I thought this was the academy, where we’re supposed to have free speech,” Kelly said during one of the brief lulls in the protest.
CONNOR MCGUIGAN
Ray Kelly was shooed off stage by Brown University students, who yelled over the NYPD commissioner as he attempted a lecture on policing.
Before the commish could complete his thought, another student rose up to slam the NYPD and accused Kelly of discriminating against blacks and Muslims.
“It’s not a dialogue, it’s not a discussion,” one heckler yelled. “He doesn’t get to say s---.”
CHITOSE SUZUKI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Brown University students were railing against the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy and its surveillance of Muslims.
One brave student in the room got up and said Kelly should be heard. “The way to reach progress is not by fighting, not being angry, but . . . . ” he said.
He, too, never got to finish his thought.
“Go write an essay or something!” the hecklers yelled at him.
CHITOSE SUZUKI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Protester stands up to interrupt when New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly tries to speak.
After 20 minutes of verbal abuse, Kelly finally gave up and left.
Kristy Choi, a 20-year-old Brown junior and one of the protest organizers, claimed victory.
CHITOSE SUZUKI FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Commissioner Kelly canceled his “Proactive Policing in America’s Biggest City” lecture after the demonstration.
“We do not at all support Ray Kelly’s stop-and-frisk policies, and we wanted to stand in solidarity with communities the police have targeted,” said Choi, a history and Africana Studies major from the Maryland suburbs of Washington.
But there were also other Brown students, especially those packed into the adjoining room with a video feed of Kelly, who wanted to hear what he had to say.
“That was disgraceful,” said a student who asked not to be identified. “If people are really against it, they should be arming themselves with the arguments of the opposition instead of stifling education.”
There was no immediate response from Kelly to the uproar, but Brown University President Christina Paxson was livid.
“The conduct of disruptive members of the audience is indefensible and an affront both to civil democratic society and to the university’s core values of dialogue and the free exchange of views,” she said in a statement.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/brown-students-shout-commish-kelly-talk-article-1.1500618#ixzz2jFCP4a8a
No comments:
Post a Comment