AIDS Activists dressed as giant bagels were arrested outside of Brooklyn Public Library Wednesday as they protested Mayor Michael Bloomberg's continuing cuts to AIDS services. CREDIT: Housing Works' Flickr Photostream (December 1, 2010) |
NEW YORK (WPIX)—
Nearly a dozen AIDS activists donning bagel costumes were arrested Wednesday as they protested Mayor Michael Bloomberg's cuts for AIDS services.The group, which consisted of nine members of the non-profit group Housing Works AIDS, were placed in police custody outside Brooklyn Public Library where Bloomberg was hosting his annual World AIDS Day Bagel Breakfast.
Police moved in on the giant bagel costume-wearing activists after they chained themselves together and blocked traffic at Grand Army Plaza.
"People with AIDS are under attack. What do we do? Act up! Fight Back!" the protesters chanted as officers cuffed them. Onlookers equipped with cameras, both professional and amateur, swarmed the scene, documenting the arrests.
In a statement posted on their website, the group accused Bloomberg of consistently flip flopping on his stance on AIDS services in New York City.
"AIDS activists are fed up with Bloomberg, who each December holds his World AIDS Day Bagel Breakfast, and then each January proposes devastating cuts for AIDS services, such as housing and nutrition, for low-income people with HIV," the statement said.
"Bloomberg was influential in convincing [Governor] David Paterson to veto the 30 percent rent cap bill legislation which would have provided housing security to 10,000 low-income New Yorkers living with AIDS."
The group also cites the mayor's massive $12 million in cuts of AIDS services in 2008 and 2009.
Despite the group's claims, Bloomberg announced a new initiative while observing World AIDS Day at his annual bagel breakfast. The mayor officially launched 'Brooklyn Knows,' a community-based testing effort that his administration says aims to help a half-million Brooklyn residents learn their HIV status over the next four years.
Of the protesters arrested Wednesday, two were reportedly taken into custody where charges against them are pending while seven others were released and issued summonses.
