Across Manhattan and Brooklyn today, hundreds of protesters took to the streets — and in some cases took over the streets — to protest the verdict of the Sean Bell shooting case.
At six locations across the city, including Midtown, Harlem, and both sides of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Reverend Al Sharpton and the National Action Network organized a day of civil disobedience. Dozens were arrested, including Sharpton, Bell’s fiancé Nicole Paultre-Bell, and the two survivors of the 2006 shooting.
“Today people are expressing their support for justice across the country,” said Michael Hardy, an attorney for Sharpton’s National Action Network. “If they’re not going to arrest the guilty, they’ll have to arrest the innocent.”
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- A standard bearer at 1 Police Plaza.
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- A line of NYPD officers waits along the fence at City Hall.
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- The arrested were loaded into police trucks with little resistance.
City Hall was the main rallying point for the protests though the original plan to stop traffic going over the Brooklyn Bridge was unsuccessful. Blockades of protesters briefly disrupted traffic at the Lincoln and Holland tunnels and the Manhattan, Queensborough and Triborough bridges, according to the Daily News. But when protesters arrived at the Brooklyn Bridge just before 4 p.m. the NYPD had already cordoned off the streets.
Dozens of officers were waiting with two police buses and quickly asked the crowd to disperse. When the hundreds of protesters and spectators refused, dozens were cuffed and led onto the buses, including Sharpton and Paultre-Bell.
The protests were in response to the acquittal of three NYPD detectives in the shooting of 23-year-old Sean Bell. On the night of the incident — Bell’s wedding day 18 months ago — the plain clothes detectives fired a total of 50 shots at Bell’s car outside a Queens night club, killing an unarmed Bell and injuring two others.
There were no apparent scuffles at the City Hall rally, but emotions ran high. Angry civilians repeatedly counted to 50, pumping gun-shaped hands at police, as if firing the same number of shots. And chants of “We are all Sean Bell” and “Guilty! Reload! Guilty! Reload!” echoed off the facades around City Hall.
“That could’ve been your brother. That could’ve been your sister. That could have been you,” said Shakur DuBois, a member of the New Black Panther Party.
DuBois said he was happy with the turnout but cautioned that vigilance and education were essential to getting their message across, not just one day of action. Recently the New Black Panthers launched a film and video training program in response to the Bell shooting. DuBois said that the goal was to empower young people with skills as well as protection in case they ever found themselves in a similar situation.
By 5:30 p.m. the loaded buses left for 1 Police Plaza to process those arrested. Raymond Burke, a volunteer with the National Action Network, was on hand to keep track of all those arrested for legal purposes.
“This is how you beat this thing,” Burke said as he jogged to the police station, clipboard in hand. “You have to have the right fight and this is where it starts,” he said.
