Bridges from Novi Sad to Brooklyn

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International Action Center
> >>39 West 14 St., #206  New York, NY  10011
> >>(212) 633-6646   fax: (212) 633-2889
> >>email: iacenter@iacenter.org   web: www.iacenter.org
> >>
> >>For immediate release			Contacts: Deirdre Sinnott, Brian Becker
> >>Attention: assignment editor				(212) 633-6646
> >>May 15, 1999
> >>
> >>Thousands of anti-war protesters
> >>occupy the Brooklyn Bridge in NYC
> >>in support of the people of Yugoslavia
> >>
> >>More than 5,000 demonstrators marched through lower Manhattan on May
> >>15, 1999, to protest the U.S./NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.  The
> >>demonstrators included a large contingent of Chinese Americans waving
> >>the flag of the People's Republic of China and carrying signs
> >>denouncing the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
> >>
> >>The anti-war demonstration was called by the Emergency Mobilization to
> >>Stop the War, a newly formed coalition that is planning a massive
> >>march on June 5, 1999 from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington
> >>DC to the Pentagon.
> >>
> >>"Thousands of people marched today onto the Brooklyn Bridge in New
> >>York City as a symbolic gesture of solidarity and friendship with the
> >>people in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and other cities in Yugoslavia who are
> >>voluntarily acting as human shields by rallying on bridges that are
> >>targeted for bombing by NATO war planes," said Brian Becker of the
> >>International Action Center, one of the sponsoring groups in the
> >>Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War.
> >>
> >>Becker continued, "Like the people in Yugoslavia, we wore NATO target
> >>signs.  We realize that when the people in Yugoslavia march onto these
> >>bridges it is an act of great heroism because they could be killed by
> >>NATO bombs just as the workers at the Yugo plant were bombed by NATO
> >>war planes when they voluntarily acted as human shields in their
> >>factory several weeks ago."
> >>
> >>The organizers of the May 15 New York City protest attempted to march
> >>to Chatham Square in Chinatown.  But the New York City Police
> >>Department, with large numbers of officers on hand, threatened to
> >>attack and arrest the demonstrators in an effort to bar them access to
> >>the Chinese American community.
> >>
> >>"The police acted in an arbitrary manner, threatening us with violence
> >>and arrest for trying to march into a part of Chinatown.  This was a
> >>political act by the police.  They know that people in Chinatown would
> >>vigorously support the protest against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
> >>and the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade," Becker stated.
> >>
> >>The Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War has received the
> >>endorsement of over 500 organizations and prominent individuals for
> >>the June 5, 1999 March on the Pentagon.  More than 40 cities have
> >>established organizing centers and buses, vans, and car caravans will
> >>descend on Washington DC for the largest anti-war demonstration since
> >>the beginning of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999.
> >>
> >>For press interviews and information on the Emergency Mobilization to
> >>Stop the War, contact Brian Becker or Deirdre Sinnott at (212)
> >>633-6646.
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> >>
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> >>