Volume 77 / Number 50 - May 14 - 20, 2008
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933

Villager photos by Q. Sakamaki

Bell protesters take a stand

Protesters objecting to the acquittal of police officers in the November 2006 killing of Sean Bell demonstrated outside the Holland Tunnel last Wednesday, some with the intent of getting arrested. They marched down via Varick St., where a police officer videotaped them, middle photo. The Lower West Side demonstration was part of a citywide protest organized by Reverend Al Sharpton, who was arrested near the Brooklyn Bridge with Nicole Paultre Bell, Bell’s fiancé. Sharpton led the march to the bridge from One Police Plaza. A few hundred people were arrested over all. Commuters angrily objected to the traffic blockages, asking why they were the target of the protests.