The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.25           June 24, 1996 
 
 
`We Have To Fight This Cop Brutality'  

BY CHRIS REMPLE

IRVINGTON, New Jersey - Some 20 people turned out June 10 for the beginning of a day-long protest against the police beating of Max Antoine, a young Haitian law student here. Antoine's father, Joseph Antoine, described how the police assaulted his son.

The cops had come to the door of the Antoine home at 2:00 a.m. Sunday, June 2, to tell them to turn down the music at a party they were hosting. Although the music was then completely turned off, the cops pushed their way into the house and began harassing two women, one of them Max's six-month pregnant sister.

Max told his sister to take down the officers' badge numbers so they could file a complaint the next day. At that time, one cop leapt across the two women, pushing the pregnant one to the floor, and began slamming Max's head against the wall of the house.

After the police handcuffed him, they continued to beat him at the house. They took him to the squad car and shoved him inside with their feet and gave him two more beatings at the police station. He was refused medical care or any contact with his family from early Sunday until Monday morning.

At the time of the protest, Max Antoine had just been released from the hospital in order to go to court in downtown Newark to face charges of trying to take one of the cops' guns.

Joseph Antoine attended the Socialist Workers campaign event in Newark Sunday, June 9, to appeal for solidarity and asked people there to come to the protest the next day. The story of the beating and plans for the protest were publicized on several Haitian radio programs - Radio Verité, Moment Creole, and Radio Liberté - and a number of people had come from hearing of this fight on the radio.

Najieb Isaac, a 16-year-old high school student from New York, stated, "As far as I'm concerned, the police always seem to find just cause for beating up Black people. They always assume a Black person is guilty and go for their gun."

A young bus driver for the Board of Education, who heard of the protest on the radio, spoke for many when he explained why he had come. "The police beat up my brother so I have to leave my job and come down here. Maybe nothing is going to happen to them [the cops], but we've got to stand up strong."

Marie, a food service worker, stated, "It's not right for them to come and hit people like that. It could happen to you or it could happen to me. We have to fight this."  
 
 
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