never sleep – Page 5 – nyc counter-info

Not Liking Someone Doesn’t Mean They’re a Cop: On Bad-jacketing

Posted on 2024/10/06 by neversleep

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Since the commencement of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, millions around the world have taken to the streets in support of Palestine against the genocidal Zionist entity. We are, globally, in an unprecedented moment of anti-imperialist mobilisation, which threatens not only the Zionist occupation but the colonial powers that uphold it.

This text was written through the summer and early autumn of 2024 from Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee territory (so-called Southern Ontario, Canada), where people, many new to the left, have been facing intensified violence and harassment from both police and Zionists. Protests are regularly met with arrests and other attacks, which have created a climate of fear among attendees and organisers.

At the same time, that fear, combined with a disconnect from previous generations of struggle and an often-unchallenged fear of militancy, has led to practices that end up putting our comrades in more danger. This text hopes to address one such recurring issue.

Continue reading “Not Liking Someone Doesn’t Mean They’re a Cop: On Bad-jacketing”

E-Bike Vandalism: A Growing Concern for Riders in Major U.S. Cities

Posted on 2024/10/042024/10/04 by neversleep

A troubling trend has emerged in recent months, causing significant inconvenience and frustration for e-bike riders in major U.S. cities. Vandals are increasingly targeting e-bikes, damaging essential components and rendering them unusable. One of the most common tactics involves scratching out QR codes and tearing off e-bike numbers, making it impossible for riders to unlock and operate the bikes.

E-bike riders in New York City have been particularly vocal about the issue, reporting numerous instances of vandalism. The practice not only affects individual riders but also disrupts the entire e-bike sharing system, limiting transportation options for commuters and tourists alike.

The reasons behind the vandalism are unclear, but experts speculate that it could be motivated by a combination of factors, including boredom, frustration, or a desire to cause disruption. Some believe that the anonymity provided by e-bike sharing systems may embolden vandals to act without fear of consequences.

Found on Industry Media

Armed robbers in Mercedes steal nearly $200K in jewelry across NYC

Posted on 2024/10/032024/10/04 by neversleep

Armed robbers in a Mercedes-Benz have stolen nearly $200,000 in jewelry during a weeks-long crime spree targeting people on the streets of three New York City boroughs.

No serious injuries were reported in the eight robberies, which stretch back to early September and span Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. In total, more than $190,000 worth of jewelry was reported stolen.

The latest robbery linked to the pair was early Monday morning in Rego Park, Queens, where a 36-year-old man was mugged at gunpoint at 95^th Street and 62^nd Drive shortly after 1 a.m. The suspects tried to steal his watch, but he fought back and they fled empty-handed in the Mercedes, police said.

Just two hours before that robbery, the pair targeted a 63-year-old man on Bell Boulevard in Oakland Gardens, Queens, punching him repeatedly in the face and stealing his wallet, police said.

The duo has also been linked to the robbery of a 47-year-old man on the Horace Harding Expressway in Douglaston, Queens, on the evening of Sept. 18. They stole his $20,000 watch, police said.

And on Sept. 15, they allegedly robbed a 33-year-old man of his $10,000 watch on McDonald Avenue in Gravesend, Brooklyn.

They even stormed into a 54-year-old man’s house in South Ozone Park on the evening of Sept. 13, cops said, but ultimately fled without stealing anything.

Their largest haul was on the morning of Sept. 12, when they allegedly robbed a 25-year-old man of his $90,000 watch and $200 cash in the Concourse section of the Bronx.

They also tried to break into a residence in the South Bronx on Sept. 5 by smashing a window with a rock, but they were unsuccessful, police said.

The first robbery linked to them was on the night of Sept. 3, when a 32-year-old man was robbed of a $70,000 necklace in Auburndale, Queens.

Found on Mainstream Media

“Live Free, Ride Free, Fuck NYPD”

Posted on 2024/10/022024/10/06 by neversleep

Last week, a series of demonstrations took place in New York City after police attacked a person they accused of dodging the fare on the subway. The police opened fire, shooting the suspect, a police officer, and multiple other people who happened to be in the station. This shows the real cost of police enforcing subway fare. We received the following report from a mass fare evasion action in Manhattan on the evening of September 18.

It’s senseless to have police randomly shooting people to enforce a $2.90 fare. The subways should be free, as they chiefly serve to put working-class people at the disposal of capitalist profiteers in the first place. The resources to make this possible exist—they are simply held hostage by the ruling class, to whom the lives of ordinary people have no worth.

It was a demonstration very much like the one described below that set off the Chilean uprising of 2019, triggering copycat actions in the United States. Struggles against the cost of public transit and the murderous police that enforce it continue around the world.

Photographs by Abu Zeek.

Continue reading ““Live Free, Ride Free, Fuck NYPD””

Ancestral land returned to Onondaga Nation in upstate New York

Posted on 2024/10/01 by neversleep

The Onondaga Nation has regained 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of its ancestral land in upstate New York, a tiny portion of the land members say was unjustly taken by the state beginning in the 18th century.

The heavily forested land is south of Syracuse and near the Onondaga’s federally recognized territory. The land, which includes headwaters of Onondaga Creek, was transferred by Honeywell International on Friday under a federal Superfund settlement related to the contamination of the environment, according to the Onondaga Nation.

The land is part of an expanse of 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) in central New York the Onondagas say was taken over decades by New York beginning in 1788 through deceitful maneuvers that violated treaties and federal law.

Sid Hill, the Tadodaho, or chief, of the Onondaga Nation, said Monday they were grateful to federal and state officials for working with them to return “the first 1,000 acres of the 2.5 million acres of treaty-guaranteed land taken from us over the centuries.”

“This is a small but important step for us, and for the Indigenous land back movement across the United States,” Hill said in a prepared statement.

Rebuffed in U.S. courts, the Onondagas are now pursuing their claim before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which is part of the Organization of American States.

The nation’s case involves a roughly 40-mile-wide (65-kilometer-wide) strip of land running down the center of upstate New York from Canada to Pennsylvania. The Onondagas hope the case spurs negotiations that could lead to the return of some land.

Found on Mainstream Media

Congressman’s office vandalized as pro-Palestinian protests reignite across NYC

Posted on 2024/09/282024/10/15 by neversleep

The uptown Manhattan district office of New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat and the surrounding area was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti on Thursday night.

According to security footage police viewed at the scene the following morning, the vandalism took place at around 11 p.m., on a night when pro-Palestinian protests took place around the city, on the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

The graffiti covered a window that, for much of the past year, has displayed fliers with the faces of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. The office, which was closed Friday morning as police investigated, is regularly picketed by small groups of pro-Palestinian protesters.

By Friday morning, the graffiti had been partially scratched off, but the vandalism appeared to say, “F— Israel,” “40k dead,” “genocide lover” and “terrorist” in red paint on the window and door of Espaillat’s office in Washington Heights.

The graffiti also had an inverted red triangle, a symbol Hamas uses to mark its targets in propaganda videos that has become increasingly popular among pro-Palestinian protesters. Other graffiti on the same street and on a nearby subway entrance also featured the red triangle and read “F— Israel NYPD Cop City,” “Free Gaza” and “A terrorist in uniform is still a terrorist.”

Espaillat is a Democrat representing upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx. He has spoken out in support of Israeli hostages, security funding for Jewish institutions, and Jewish students at Columbia University in recent months. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other pro-Israel New York congressmen have had their offices hit with anti-Israel graffiti since Oct. 7, including Reps. Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, both Democrats, and Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.

Anti-Israel protests reignited around the city this week, after a lull during the summer, when many students were home for summer vacation. A protest against Netanyahu marched from Bryant Park on Thursday, and demonstrators gathered outside a hotel on Park Avenue on Thursday night where they believed Netanyahu was staying. The protests come amid an escalation in fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace said actress Rowan Blanchard from the “Spy Kids” movie series had been arrested along with 24 other activists affiliated with the group.

The hardline pro-Palestinian activist group Within Our Lifetime released a map illustrated with dripping blood that urged followers to target the offices of Israel-focused groups including the Friends of the IDF, AIPAC, Birthright and the “Zionist consulate,” as well as Grand Central Station. The group published a similar map last year.

Anti-Israel protesters targeted New York Mayor Eric Adams at a Thursday rally after he was indicted for corruption. Columbia University students announced a Friday campus protest focused on Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

Found on Mainstream Media

Activists target Brooklyn home of NYPD cop they say aggressively handled protest

Posted on 2024/09/282024/09/28 by neversleep

Activists targeted the Brooklyn home of an NYPD cop, accusing him of aggressively handling a protest over a police-involved shooting in a Brooklyn subway station a day earlier.

The protesters showed up at the cop’s home in Sunset Park about 9:45 p.m. Monday and began yelling at him from the sidewalk after spotting him on his front porch.

“We want justice! We want Justin!” the protesters screamed, using the cop’s first name after he retreated into his home.

The officer called 911 as the protesters set fire to an American flag and threw objects at the aluminum-sided home. When on-duty cops arrived, the crowd quickly dispersed and no arrests were made, officials said.

The NYPD’s Threat Assessment Unit was notified of the protest at the officer’s home and cops have been sitting outside his house keeping watch since Monday, a police source said.

On Sunday, the targeted officer, who joined the NYPD in January 2023, helped handle a protest outside 73rd Precinct stationhouse over the Sept. 15 subway shooting that left four wounded, including a fellow officer, by police bullets.

An activist who felt the officer was overly aggressive in his response to the stationhouse protest took a picture of him. No arrests were made at the Sunday night protest.

“An individual took a photo of an officer and posted their personal address on social media,” an NYPD spokesman said. The targeted officer was not part of the Sept. 15 subway incident.

In a social media video, one of the protesters who showed up outside the cop’s home recaps the incident, accusing the targeted officer of being “very aggressive” against protesters the day before, saying the officer “put his hands” on a few of them outside the stationhouse.

“You all shot the subway up — we didn’t do it. Now we’re going to start doing house visits to everyone in that goddamn (police) station. It’s all about making them feel it. It’s all about making them scared of us. It’s all about making them quit their f—ing job.”

Found on Mainstream Media

Eric Adams indictment alleges decade of corruption, bribery by foreign nationals

Posted on 2024/09/26 by neversleep

Prosecutors unveiled a five-count indictment [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YiOHVNs_eoxyN-ykHUCdO2DTSQtTCmmW/view] of New York City Mayor Eric Adams on corruption charges.

The 57-page indictment charges Adams with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, federal program bribery, and to receive campaign contributions by foreign nationals, one count of wire fraud, two counts of solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national, and one count of bribery.

It alleges a 10-year pattern of corruption.

“In 2014, ERIC ADAMS, the defendant, became Brooklyn Borough President,” it read. “Thereafter, for nearly a decade, ADAMS sought and accepted improper valuable benefits, such as luxury international travel, including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish govermennt official seeking to gain influence over him.”

Some of the charges are in connection with contributions to Adams’s 2021 mayoral campaign, “including from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official seeking to gain influence over him.”

Adams was indicted Wednesday night following a federal corruption investigation, making him the first mayor in the city’s history to be indicted while in office. The morning after the indictment, federal agents raided Gracie Mansion, the New York City mayor’s mansion, before sunrise.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice, FBI, IRS, and the city Department of Investigation all have investigations into Adams, though in most cases it isn’t clear what crimes they are focusing on.

Investigations and accusations of corruption have plagued Adams since November 2023, when the FBI raided the homes of two of his associates. Numerous close associates have since been investigated, raided, and arrested, some as recently as this month, presenting a chaotic image of his administration.

Adams’s phone and iPad were seized in November, one of the first indications of a major investigation. In July, the mayor was served two grand jury subpoenas. The past month has seen a slew of new revelations, raids, and resignations.

Found on Mainstream Media

Call to Action: Oct 7 Week of Rage

Posted on 2024/09/262024/10/11 by neversleep

LET the FLOOD of AL-AQSA DROWN the SETTLER EMPIRE!

Call for a Week of Rage from October 7–14: Direct action in solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance and anti-colonial movements in Turtle Island.

To act alongside the Al-Quds Axis and ‘bring the war home’ requires nothing less than a revival of anti-colonial militancy in this occupied continent. Free Palestine means death to amerika.

In commemorating one year of Operation Toufan Al-Aqsa, this is a call to go beyond the routine stage-managed ‘protest’ parades; this is a call to organize and sustain attacks on all entities, institutions, and infrastructures of the genocidal u.s.-zionist settler-imperialist order. Strike fear into the hearts of the comfortable colonizers, unsettle the settlers, just as the Palestinian Mujahideen have done.

Honor the martyrs through action. From Palestine to Lebanon to Yemen, to the millions of Native and Afrikan peoples across these lands—carry on the fight of those who dared to resist the settler-invader hordes and their capitalist slaveocracy. Target the many politicians, pigs, and profiteers that uphold the amerikan settler empire and its zionist spawn.

Share this graphic online, print and disseminate this call to action at demos, gatherings, study groups. [PDF: AlAqsaWoR]

Organize a crew—at least three people—map out the terrain, assemble necessary tools, make a plan, and go on the offensive. For ideas, check out past actions and tactical resources on unityoffields.org, and submit a report back to the_unity_of_fields@proton.me.

As Al-Qassam urban guerrillas have demonstrated, a small dedicated cell can do untold damage upon the enemy. In the midst of total genocidal devastation, the Resistance is still able to obliterate the zionist entity’s tanks with just a few men. Let’s muster the courage and conviction so we too can learn from their revolutionary example.

GLORY to the MARTYRS
VICTORY to the RESISTANCE
WHAT IS COMING IS GREATER

Submitted anonymously over email.

Stand with Muslim Youth Leaders Against NYPD Violence: Eric Adams Must Resign

Posted on 2024/09/252024/09/26 by neversleep

Our Demands

Following months of barbaric brutality from the NYPD, we demand:

1. The resignation of Eric Adams

From federal investigation, to emboldening his police forces to attack protesters, the disgraced Zionist mayor is not fit for NYC.

2. The disbandment of the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group

The SRG is a notoriously violent rapid response group of the NYPD tasked with policing protests, best known for its violence, misconduct, and racial bias.

3. Shut down NYPD’s office in occupied Palestine

The NYPD regularly coordinates with the zionist occupation to surveil Palestinian, Arab and Muslim New Yorkers from its office in occupied Palestine.

Statement on Emergency Action to Flood Manhattan for Lebanon

Tonight, the NYPD unleashed the full force of their violence against New York’s Palestinian, Arab and Muslim communities in an attempt block us from protesting the United Nations as the General Assembly commences this week. WOL leader Abdullah Akl was violently arrested and sent to the hospital tonight. Dozens of others were also brutally attacked by SRG officers who clearly targeted Muslim youth leaders, as the unit serves to criminalize Black and Brown communities.

Thousands of New Yorkers took to the streets today after “israel” massacred over 500 people in Lebanon on Monday. As the US demonstrates its barbaric support for the genocidal Zionist project and opposition to it grows worldwide, the NYPD has escalated its brutality against our movement.

Continue reading “Stand with Muslim Youth Leaders Against NYPD Violence: Eric Adams Must Resign”

A Report from a Mass Fare Evasion in New York City

Our Demands

Statement on Emergency Action to Flood Manhattan for Lebanon