Civil and Political Rights Leaders Hold NY Forum to Fight Police Surveillance and Repression

Groups seek end to police Investigations based on political activism or ‘religious profiling’.

Manhattan’s Judson Memorial Church. Source: en.wikipedia.org

(NEW YORK CITY) - Leaders from Latino and Muslim communities from New York, Los Angeles, will join with anti-war leaders from the Midwest to hold a public forum in Manhattan’s Judson Memorial Church addressing the growing threat to civil liberties posed by widespread federal and local police practices of domestic spying and political persecution. The event is organized by the NY Committee to Stop FBI Repression and endorsed by the May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights, NY Council on American Islamic Relations, and Bayan USA. The forum will educate the public and organize dedicated peaceful resistance to expanding abuses of police power.

Speakers will include Carlos Montes and Tracy Molm, anti-war activists whose homes were raided by the FBI in the past year. Molm is also among 23 activists resisting grand jury subpoenas issued by the FBI. Montes, a California based immigrant rights activist faces prosecution on charges related to that raid. According to FBI documents, both raids were part of a larger federal investigation of anti-war and international solidarity activists based on their political participation in organizing protests of the Republican National Convention in 2008. “I am travelling to New York City share about the attack on me by the FBI and LA Sheriffs and learn about others who face police intimidation solely due to their religion, country or origin, race, or political activities,” said Montes.

Cyrus McGoldrick of the New York Council on American Islamic relations will also speak on growing revelations from an AP investigation that the Central Intelligence Agency helped train and create a NYPD unit that infiltrated hundreds of Mosques and businesses and conducted operations outside the City of New York. “Regular people all over the country are coming together to stop the federal government and the NYPD from operating programs that violate the constitutional rights of entire communities,” said McGoldrick.

A representative of the Victor Toro Defense Committee will discuss how the Dept of Homeland Security uses racial profiling to target immigrants and how people can get involved in the struggle to stop the deportation of Victor Toro. Teresa Gutierrez, a representative of May 1st Coalition said “In trying to deport Victor to Chile, a place where he faces potential political repression, the state provides an example of how deportation has become a political tool against immigrant rights leaders.”

WHEN: Saturday Oct. 15 at 4pm

WHERE: Judson Memorial Church (Assembly Hall), 239 Thompson St. (by Washington Sq. South), New York, NY 10012

For more information visit www.StopFBI.net