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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Response to Severe
Police Brutality at University of California-Santa Cruz,
Supporting
students' freedom of speech and basic human rights.
Education, Not
War
On Monday April 18, 2005, at the University of
California-Santa Cruz, the city police engaged in a brutal suppression of
students' right to assemble, their freedom of speech, and their basic human
rights. University of California-Santa Cruz students had organized Tent
University Santa Cruz, a week long encampment in coordination with the Tent
State Universities at University of Missouri-Kansas City and Rutgers
University-New Brunswick to support the full funding of higher education and
oppose the Iraq War. The message is simple: “Education, Not
War.”
As UCSC students peacefully set up tents on their own
campus for the night police rioted, violently dispersing several hundred
campers, arresting near twenty, and injuring dozens. These injuries included but
were not limited to bruises, dislocated shoulders and one student who had been
attacked so severely he was rendered unconscious. Aside from using batons and
taser-guns on peaceful protesters, Riot Police literally locked students’ heads
and applies force to pressure points as students sat in unity and locked arms.
The live video footage shows students rendered unconscious from such tactics,
and yet the police still continued pulverizing them.
video of arrests
You can watch the
footage for yourself by accessing www.tentstate.com and following the UCSC-link, or going to http://dmedia.ucsc.edu/~afrojas/TU/, or http://216.69.129.146/To_Protect_And_Serve_Broad.mp4
The
message of Tent State University is one of peaceful protest, creating a communal
space of tents whereby we symbolically give higher education a “home.” Events
include informative workshops and discussions on local and global issues, and
Speak-Outs which include legislators and community leaders of local-to-global
significance, including Vietnam and Iraqi Veterans Against the War. A common
question asked is whether the name “Tent State University” is a reflection of
the incidents that occurred at Kent State – and although this was not originally
the intent, our peaceful civic engagement stirs strong reminiscence of such
historic atrocities.
Tent State University of New Brunswick,
NJ, condemns the barbaric and authoritarian disregard for the health, safety,
and well being of UCSC students and calls for the immediate recognition of the
rights of UCSC students as well as a halt to any and all oppressive actions of
the University and city administrators and police. We demand a formal public
apology, and for medical and jail expenses to be recouped. We call upon Rutgers
University to issue a statement of condemnation to the UCSC
Administration.
We call upon all concerned citizens,
organizations, and Universities across the country to stand for the message to
Support Education, Not War.
We stand in coast-to-coast
solidarity with our brothers and sisters at Tent University-Santa
Cruz.
CONTACT:
Yael Bromberg
New Brunswick,
N
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