BY DAN FURMAN

NEWARK - Supporters of the Socialist Workers candidates in New Jersey held a press conference on the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey, September 26. The speak-out was organized to protest the police harassment and assault on Bob Miller, a campaign supporter and member of the United Auto Workers at the nearby Ford assembly plant in Edison.

Miller was staffing a campaign literature table on a public sidewalk in front of the Rutgers Student Union on September 12, when a New Brunswick Police officer demanded to see his driver's license. Miller asked why and asserted that he was exercising his constitutional right to campaign. The police officer grabbed his right arm and twisted it back violently. Miller sustained an ugly bruise and abrasion to his upper arm and was issued a summons to appear in court on the charge of "no permit to solicit."

"We have campaigned and collected thousands of signatures - in that very spot - for many years to put socialist candidates on the ballot in New Jersey," Olga Rodríguez, Socialist Workers candidate for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, stated at the press conference. "The physical assault on Bob Miller could only be read as an attempt to silence our campaign supporters, and to intimidate students and other youth on the campus who express interest in the program of the socialist candidates.

"This violent incident took place in the wake of demonstrations in New Brunswick demanding justice for Carolyn Adams, who was killed by a New Brunswick cop," Rodríguez continued. "And it took place as the debate around U.S. policy in the Middle East and Washington's war drive against Iraq was unfolding."

"On September 12, U.S. planes were on their way to bomb Iraq," added Miller. "As soon as our table was set up, with posters demanding `U.S. Hands Off Iraq!,' students stopped to have a discussion. Within minutes, Officer Jannarone came up and accosted me. Even then, students hung around. Support for the right of socialists to campaign is broad. We will not let space for these discussions be shut down."

Miller filed a complaint with the Rutgers University police. He is being represented by an attorney from the New Jersey American Civil Liberties Union. Supporters of the SWP campaign have sent letters to New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill, City Council President Blanquita Valente, and Rutgers University President Francis Lawrence, demanding that the charges against Miller be dropped, officer Jannarone be disciplined, and that the right to campaign without harassment be guaranteed.

Dan Furman is a member of Teamsters Local 680 at Tuscan Dairy in Union, New Jersey.  
 
 
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