EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH NYPD OFFICER http://www.mediafire.com/download/5avopqs36sg48pz/WBAI_NEWS_-_2016-05-17_as_aired.mp3
NYPD CONTINUES TO VIOLATE PROTESTERS' RIGHTS
NYPD ILLEGALLY FILMED DEMONSTRATORS AT PIGEON "ART" PROJECT IN BROOKLYN
CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY NORMAN SIEGEL TO FILE COMPLAINT WITH THE NYPD AND THE MAYOR
At Sunday's (May 15) animal rights protest against an "art" show said to be exploiting and abusing pigeons which takes place each weekend at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the NYPD videoed the crowd of non-violent protesters who were legally gathered holding signs and chanting slogans.
Artist Duke Riley's "Fly by Night" is sponsored by a not-for-profit arts corporation called "Creative Time, Inc." LED lights are strapped to the feet of two thousand pigeons, as night falls, and are kept in the air by Riley's accomplices who use sticks to keep them from landing.
Attorney Nora Constance Marino heads the Animal Cruelty Exposure Fund which organized the protest. She says that animals should not be used in art exhibits or entertainment, because they are usually forced to behave in ways that are unnatural to them. She points out that pigeons can't see well at night and do not normally fly in the dark.
Members of another group, Pigeon Defenders NYC, pick up on that theme. "When flying in the dark, these moving lights can disorient, frighten or temporarily blind the birds," said one protester, "and force them down to the water, where they can quickly die from hypothermia or drowning." Creative Time said that there would be kayaks out in the East River to retrieve birds who collapse into the water ... if they could find them in the dark and get to them quickly enough.
WBAI Radio's Mitchel Cohen was on the scene and interviewed activists as well as Creative Time staff and those attending the spectacle.
At one point a NYC police officer pulled up in his police car, and he and his partner got out. The officer began videoing the demonstrators.
Cohen asked the police officer why he was videoing legally gathered non-violent demonstrators. Such videoing of legally gathered protesters by the NYPD is against the law. Cohen cited the longstanding Handschu agreement, which protects the rights of demonstrators and prohibits police from filming them.
The officer stated that it was HIS First Amendment right to do so, even while on duty.
Cohen openly recorded the interview with the officer. Upon listening to the tape of the interview, noted civil rights attorney Norman Siegel said the police officer lacked knowledge and understanding of the law, and this may reflect a far-reaching problem inside the NYPD about providing accurate information to local cops about the law and respecting the rights of peaceful protesters.
Siegel addressed the issue on WBAI radio Tuesday at 6 pm. The station also aired Cohen's recording of the interchange with the police officer.
Siegel will also be filing a complaint on behalf of Cohen with the NYPD and the Mayor's office.
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