Ending Police Militarization, One City at a Time

Published on Truthout on Tuesday, 29 September 2015 00:00
By Ana Conner and Tara Tabassi

We Want Peace, Not Police!

We are proud to announce two brand new banners now hanging above the WRL National Office at 339 Lafayette St. Thanks to WRL's Demilitarize Health and Security working group for their hard work and initiative! And thank you to Cindy Trinh of Activists of New York for these great photos.

Since last week, the streets of Turkey have again been filled with tear gas following the death of 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was in a coma since June 2013 after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister while buying bread during the government repression of last summer's Gezi Park uprising.

March 13th was also the fifth anniversary of US solidarity activist Tristan Anderson's critical injury due to a tear gas canister fired at his head in a demonstration against the construction of the annexation wall through the village of Ni’lin’s land in Palestine. Tear gas is used regularly against Palestinians protesting Israeli occupation. In recent years, Israeli tear gas (made in the USA) has resulted in the deaths of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, Bassem Abu Rahmah, and Mustafa Tamimi.

We wonder how many people will be hurt and killed before we stop calling tear gas a “nonlethal” weapon?

On Friday, October 25th, more than 100 police and military agencies from California and across the US were joined by their counterparts from Israel, Guam, Bahrain, and Brazil for a massive SWAT team training and weapons expo called Urban Shield. The Facing Urban Shield Action Network, with more than 30 endorsers in the Bay Area, showed up to challenge this convergence and the militarization of police.