New York holds rally demanding National Guard out of subways
New York, NY – 60 people came out to Union Square, March 15, to protest against the recent deployment of the National Guard to inspect bags at high-traffic subway stations.
The protest was called by the New York Community Action Project (NYCAP) in light of Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams announcing a Five-Point Plan on March 6 to help address public safety on the subways.
In addition to deploying the National Guard, the Five-Point Plan puts 1000 more NYPD officers in subway stations, provides for more surveillance cameras, lets judges ban people from the subways, gives NYPD more power to involuntarily hospitalize people having mental health crises, and allows more coordination between district attorneys and NYPD to crackdown on civilians.
“Hey hey, ho ho! The National Guard has got to go!” chanted the crowd, led by NYCAP member Lee Dynes.
Speakers at the protest pointed out that these bag checks resemble the Stop and Frisk Policy, which has shown to disproportionately affect Black and brown people.
Briony Morgan, another member of NYCAP, pointed out in their speech, “The National Guard and more police is not what will keep us safe, we keep us safe! Instead of increasing militarization in our subways, the governor and mayor should be more concerned with providing better mental health resources and more money to address the issues of transportation in our city.”
As the militarization of subways continues to grow in New York City, NYCAP will continue to do more actions to demand an end to the deployment of the National Guard and Governor Hochul’s Five-Point Plan.