May 15, 1999
More than 5,000 demonstrators marched through lower Manhattan on May 15, 1999, to protest the U.S./NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The demonstrators included a large contingent of Chinese Americans waving the flag of the People’s Republic of China and carrying signs denouncing the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
The anti-war demonstration was called by the Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War, a newly formed coalition that is planning a massive march on June 5, 1999 from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC to the Pentagon.
"Thousands of people marched today onto the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City as a symbolic gesture of solidarity and friendship with the people in Belgrade, Novi Sad, and other cities in Yugoslavia who are voluntarily acting as human shields by rallying on bridges that are targeted for bombing by NATO war planes," said Brian Becker of the International Action Center, one of the sponsoring groups in the Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War.
Becker continued, "Like the people in Yugoslavia, we wore NATO target signs. We realize that when the people in Yugoslavia march onto these bridges it is an act of great heroism because they could be killed by NATO bombs just as the workers at the Yugo plant were bombed by NATO war planes when they voluntarily acted as human shields in their factory several weeks ago."
The organizers of the May 15 New York City protest attempted to march to Chatham Square in Chinatown. But the New York City Police Department, with large numbers of officers on hand, threatened to attack and arrest the demonstrators in an effort to bar them access to the Chinese American community.
"The police acted in an arbitrary manner, threatening us with violence and arrest for trying to march into a part of Chinatown. This was a political act by the police. They know that people in Chinatown would vigorously support the protest against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade," Becker stated.
The Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War has received the endorsement of over 500 organizations and prominent individuals for the June 5, 1999 March on the Pentagon. More than 40 cities have established organizing centers and buses, vans, and car caravans will descend on Washington DC for the largest anti-war demonstration since the beginning of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia on March 24, 1999.
For press interviews and information on the Emergency Mobilization to Stop the War, contact Brian Becker or Deirdre Sinnott at (212) 633-6646.
International Action Center
39 West 14 Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
phone: (212) 633-6646
fax: (212) 633-2889