BY ANASTASIA ECONOMIDES AND MATTHEW CHAYES
March 30, 2008
An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.
Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as "graphic anti-war images." Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of American military personnel and Iraqis - 4,000 and 1 million - and the words "Dead" and "Enough." The shirt also has three blotches resembling blood splatters.
Police said in a release last night that Zirkel was handing out anti-war pamphlets to mallgoers and that mall security told him to stop and turn his shirt inside out. Zirkel refused to turn his shirt inside out and wouldn't leave, police said. Security placed him on "civilian arrest" and called police. When police arrived, Zirkel passively resisted attempts to bring him to a police car, the release said.
But Zirkel said he was sitting in the food court drinking coffee with his wife Marie, 77, and several others when police and mall security officers approached and demanded they remove their anti-war T-shirts.
The others complied, but Zirkel said he refused, and when he wouldn't stand up to be removed and arrested, authorities brought over a wheelchair. "They forcibly picked me up and put me in the wheelchair," said Zirkel, a deacon at one of the poorest Catholic parishes on Long Island, where a devastating fire recently destroyed the rectory and storage areas.
Zirkel was charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. He was released on bail. A spokeswoman for mall owner Simon Property Group did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Generally speaking, a mall has the right to control what happens on its property, said John McEntee, a Uniondale commercial litigation lawyer.
Activists with dueling opinions had gathered to support and oppose America's five-year campaign.
As Zirkel was being wheeled to the police car, the crowd chanted "We shall not be moved!" Moments later, they moved; police and mall security had ordered them off the property. Many joined a larger anti-war crowd assembled by the mall's entrance, off mall property, on Veterans Memorial Highway.
They were complemented nearby by protesters saying the Iraq war is vital for security.
Yes, I agree. Interaction with the law enforcers can be unpleasant, depending on whether you resist their enforcement. However; while I certainly don't condone the methods of the enforcers, these people should first learn about what rights they have when on others' property...unless a conflict was intended to force media coverage. (Whether land can be owned as property or not is open to debate.)
Quote:
How could anybody remove a man in a wheel chair!
You may have misunderstood this part: "when he wouldn't stand up to be removed and arrested, authorities brought over a wheelchair. "They forcibly picked me up and put me in the wheelchair," said Zirkel" Not like it excuses them for any damage that may have been done to the man, but he didn't roll in on wheel chair.
Yes, I agree. Interaction with the law enforcers can be unpleasant, depending on whether you resist their enforcement. However; while I certainly don't condone the methods of the enforcers, these people should first learn about what rights they have when on others' property...unless a conflict was intended to force media coverage. (Whether land can be owned as property or not is open to debate.)
All that is true. This doesn't change the law, but here on Long Island a mall is about as public a place as you can get. There are literally no other places (besides parks, which you will also be kicked out of) for distributing info to large amounts of people. People here seem to only gather en masse at a mall.
I guess the mall and the cops never heard of freedom of speech. Any court system not overrun with neocons or fascists would toss out that arrest in a heartbeat.
Wed Aug 13, 2008 11:53 pm
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madthumbs
Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 8221 Location: Fingerlakes - NY usa
Malls are private property, and free speech is controlled (stifled) even on public property.
