World Can't Wait Organziers Arrested while Protesting Torture

5 World Can't Wait Organizers Arrested at Hunter College

Tuesday afternoon at Hunter students did not just stroll to class and enter their cafeteria during their lunch break. They were confronted with 5 masked people in bright orange jump suits calling to them "Take the Leash!" 5 torture victims remained still, kneeling on the ground with their heads bowed as one victim challenged people "Take the Leash". World Can't Wait organizers fliered the onlooking crowd and powerfully challenged them "You are complicit with Torture, You are saying you are okay with Abu Ghraib unless you are resisting and mobilizing others to Drive this regime out of power, what will you be doing Nov. 2nd?" A scene started to develop and a crowd of students began to look on.

Hunter College police began cuffing the torture victims and rounding them up. A thick crowd of students in the hundreds circled the torture victims looking on as police officers pounded the victims to the ground, kneeling on them and one officer punched an arrestee in his crotch. Students witnessed the brutality, some began crying telling the officers to STOP, Stop brutalizing them. A large majority of students looked on as spectators, while World CanÕt Wait organizers challenged the crowd, "Would you stand by as they rounded up the Jews in Nazi Germany? They are rounding people up now what are you going to do? They are rounding up people right in front of your face why are you not opposing this?!" The torture victims made a very powerful stand today and were attacked by the Hunter College administration. Bold actions that can challenge people and make them question what are they going to do with their lives are what the world is calling for and we can only transform Campuses around the country on that basis.

Two arrestees are being charged with rioting, trespassing, obstructing justice and resisting arrest and still being held under arrest. We are urging anyone who is reading this to email and call the President of Hunter, get others you know to clog their mailbox and phone lines demanding that these unjust charges be dropped immediately and political dissent not be attacked on Campuses.

Get the latest updates on this, including a video of the arrests, on the student/youth page.

This was also significantly covered in the media, including on 1010 wins (the largest NYC radio station) http://1010wins.com/topstories/local_story_291153903.html, NYC Newsday, yahoo news, NYC Metro, CBS TV, and more.

 

Nov. 2 World Can't Wait protest in Los Angeles

To join the resistance in Los Angeles, contact worldcantwait_la@yahoo.com, 213-926-5717 and visit http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/136562.php.