NYPD crackdown on PWA activism
Little love has been lost between the New York
Police Department and the city's activists with HIV. But two
incidents last fall marked what may be a new level of animus in
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's official relations with his city's
empowered PWAs. It all began in October, when a rowdy 6,000-strong
march to protest the murder of gay Wyoming student Matthew Shepard
spilled into the rush-hour midtown streets, drawing a massive NYPD
response and ending in 136 arrests, numerous injuries and multiple
lawsuits against the city by pissed-off PWAs. Due to a policy that
orders meds confiscated upon arrest, five PWAs spent 19 hours in
custody with no access to their antiretrovirals. "By the time I
missed my second dose, I was scared for my life," said John
Irizarry, 28. "I'm on salvage therapy: If my virus becomes
resistant, there's nothing else I can take." Besides compensation
for the missed doses -- "which cannot be replaced if the virus
breaks through," noted Irizarry's doc, Paul Bellman -- the
plaintiffs are pushing for a court-ordered change in the NYPD's pill
policy. At presstime, the suit was pending.
Then, in November, local AIDS group Housing Works sued the city
after PWAs were denied the right to commemorate World AIDS Day on
the steps of City Hall. Federal Judge Harold Baer Jr. ruled in
Housing Works' favor -- and against officials who claimed that the
threat of terrorism forces it to close the steps to events not of
"extraordinary public interest." Noting a recent city-sponsored
rally at the same location, Baer wrote: "Who's to say that
celebrating the Yankees' World Series victory is a more or less
extraordinary event than World AIDS Day? After all, it's estimated
that 30.6 million people are living with HIV worldwide." Despite the
courtroom coup, December 1 proved tense for those greeted at City
Hall with snipers, metal detectors and hundreds of cops. "Giuliani
came onto the steps and instructed police to construct barricaded
pens to corral us through," said Housing Works' Charles King. "That
he thinks 200 PWAs demonstrating in front of City Hall represents a
terrorist threat is disgusting."
