Protest against detentions by New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Coney Island Avenue Project, and 50 va

Protest against detentions by New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Coney Island Avenue Project, and 50 va

8

Mohsin Zaheer

The protest took place on June 15th on Coney Island Avenue, in Brooklyn, where high concentrations of people of Pakistani origin live. The crowd was large and diverse except that few Pakistanis attended. There were at most two dozen Pakistanis. Spokespeople from the Brooklyn Mela Committee, Pak-American Merchant's Association and Makki Mosque were among those who refused to attend the march, saying that protests in their own neighborhood bring greater risks of discrimination.

Many speakers addressed American law enforcement authorities discrimination against Muslims, their harassment of Pakistanis, and human rights violations in Kashmir, Palestine, and Gujarat.

Though not one Pakistani has been linked to the attacks of September 11th, scores of Pakistanis have been detained and deported. The speakers included Bhairavi Desai of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Ahsanullah Bobby and Dr. Fahim Butt, among others.

Protestors held aloft placards with slogans like, Stop The War, Racial Profiling is Racist, and Stop the Harassment of Immigrants. Many people voiced opposition to the policies of the governments of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Indian Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. Some shouted slogans against ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency.

After the demonstration on Coney Island Avenue, protestors marched from Newkirk Avenue and to Beverly Road and then back. Many marchers shouted No Justice,
No Peace.

2002-06-19

25

207

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Urdu

Sada-e-Pakistan NY

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Protest against detentions by New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Coney Island Avenue Project, and 50 various organizations

Rehan Ansari

born-digital

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2002-06-19