STUDENTS CONDEMN POLICE HARRASSMENT AND ARREST OF UNC STUDENT PROTESTER HALEY KOCH; DEMAND AN IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATION
 

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Contact:
Ben Carroll – 919-604-8167, cmbenjam@email.unc.edu
Billie Murray – 336-675-2133, bjmurray@email.unc.edu

CAROLINA STUDENTS DENOUNCE POLICE INTIMIDATION, ARREST OF STUDENT ACTIVIST

Students to hold a press conference condemning Chapel Hill and UNC police harassment and targeting of activists at South Building tomorrow at 12pm.

Chapel Hill, NC - Student organizers involved in the protests of speeches hosted by Youth for Western Civilization featuring Tom Tancredo and Virgil Goode at are denouncing attempts by UNC and Chapel Hill police to intimidate and harass activists. The students will hold a press conference tomorrow at noon to demand that the UNC administration cease their harassment and conduct an immediate independent investigation into police activities.

At 10:30 this morning, UNC Morehead Scholar and honor student, Haley Koch found police officers waiting for her outside her class. She was questioned at the UNC police station, and released on a $1,000 bond.

“Another student and I were having a conversation after class with Haley just before she was arrested outside the Fred Brooks building. As soon as we walked away, a police officer who had been lurking near us approached and placed her under arrest. She was handcuffed and forced to stand there for several minutes before being walked away,” said classmate Fola Goke-Pariola.

On Wednesday, April 22nd, six individuals were arrested for allegedly speaking during a talk by Virgil Goode in the Union Auditorium. Many people in the audience were also commenting and responding to the content of Goode’s speech, but specific individuals were targeted for arrest and have been banned for campus for two years. We feel this was intended to create a chilling effect on student activists and other community members who are opposed to these views.

On Tuesday, Lt. Twiddy and another police officer came to a classroom where the president of Students for a Democratic Society, UNC student Hannah Simmons, was in attendance. They then accused her of lying about her whereabouts during the Tancredo demonstration and erroneously claimed they had footage of her there.

“I had already told the police when they called me on the phone that I was not at the demonstration and was not involved in the organization of the protest. I also told them I would not speak to them without a lawyer present. They then cornered me outside of my class and tried to get me to answer their questions without my lawyer. Their behavior was very aggressive and confrontational, and I was nervous about coming to class today after being harassed in this way,” said Simmons.

Activists at UNC see this police intimidation as part of a broader effort by the UNC administration to harass students and activists and suppress protest movements on campus. The arrest of Haley Koch and police harassment of other activists has sent a chill through Carolina community.

“Chancellor Thorp has publicly apologized for the supposed violation of Tancredo’s right to spew hate. He has been noticeably silent on the issue of the right of UNC students to speak freely against him and protest on their own campus. He seems more eager to protect the right of politicians to promote their racist agendas here than securing the safety and well-being of his own students,” said Carlyn Cowen, a UNC undergraduate.

Protest organizers also note that police brutality at the Tom Tancredo protest has not seriously been investigated and demand an independent investigation into the actions of the police. In addition, organizers renew their demand for a student review board of police conduct to ensure that any further intimidation of activists ceases.

“I saw students thrown to the ground, directly attacked with pepper spray, and chased with tasers during the Tancredo demonstration. This violence against students is clearly inappropriate and must be condemned,” said Cowen, who was also a witness to these events.

Most importantly, the organizers note that numerous press accounts of the Tancredo protest are deeply flawed in that they report the police use of pepper spray on protesters following the breaking of a window. In reality, police attacked peaceful protesters, and only after protesters were pushed out of the building by the police was a window broken.

More info:

WHAT: A press conference where UNC students will condemn police intimidation and harassment of activists.

WHEN: April 24, 2009 at 12:00pm

WHERE: The steps of South Building on Cameron Road, on UNC Chapel Hill’s campus

WHO:  A broad range of students and community members

WHY:  To oppose police intimidation and demand an immediate end to any further harassment of UNC activists by police and the UNC administration.

Areas of Focus:

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