BY TAMAR ROSENFELD

STATEN ISLAND, New York - On May 19 the police attacked dozens of people here as residents of the Stapleton housing project came to the aid of Ethel Jones, a 59-year-old Black woman. At least ten people were injured and eight arrested.

Jones, whose son Arthur died in police custody eight days earlier, was trying to defend a young man who was being hauled off by the police. The cops slapped her to the ground as she yelled, "They're going to kill you, like they killed my son."

Neighbors surrounded the police officers and prevented them from further assaulting Jones. The Staten Island Sunday Advance reported that "the incident between police and Ms. Jones grew into a 15-minute riot that pitted about 100 cops against an equal number of residents."

After the cop assault, 100 people marched from the housing project to Borough Hall and to the 120th precinct police station.

Brock Satter, a member of the International Association of Machinists and the Socialist Workers Party candidate for the 15th Congressional District in Manhattan, came here to offer his support to the fight against police brutality. He met many residents who had their own stories to tell of police harassment.

Arlene Vasquez, Ethel Jones's neighbor, described the events leading up to Arthur's death. Loud noises were heard coming from his mother's apartment. Neighbors called the police, fearing that someone was being attacked. As it turned out, Arthur was alone in the apartment, upset over something, and had been making the noise himself. "Instead of leaving when they found him alone, the cops arrested him. They put him in a straitjacket," she said. "They tied him up real tight and put him in their car." That was the last time he was seen alive. Police claim Arthur Jones died of a heart attack.

Several residents interviewed expressed skepticism about the police account. They said Jones was well-known and liked in the neighborhood, and was in good health.

"The job of the cops is to `serve and protect' the ruling rich by brutalizing and otherwise keeping working people in line," Satter said. After listening to what the socialist had to say, one woman asked, "I can understand what you are saying about the fat cats running the government in their interests, but what is your alternative?" Her interest was piqued when Satter pointed to the example of Cuba where workers and farmers are in power and where society is no longer run for the benefit of the ruling rich.

Martín Koppel, Socialist Workers candidate for the 10th Congressional District in Brooklyn, also received a warm response from workers in the area. Many stopped by to pick up campaign literature at a table he staffing along with other socialist campaigners.

Koppel and Ellie Garcia, SWP congressional candidate in the 12th C.D., issued a statement supporting the protests in Staten Island. "The marches against these abuses are exactly the response that is needed... [it's] the only kind of language the authorities will understand," the statement said. "We encourage unionists, youth, and every fighter for social justice to join these actions and demand: No to police brutality! Jail the guilty cops!"

One week after the Staten Island incident, an off-duty cop clobbered a young Black man in Westhampton Beach, Long Island, into a coma. Constantine Chronis, a New York City police detective, was arrested and charged with beating Shane Daniels, 21, with an automobile antitheft bar.

Witnesses said Chronis and others with him began shouting racist epithets at Daniels and a group of friends outside a nightclub. Then the cop attacked Daniels, while one of his companions held off bystanders with a gun. A June 1 rally in Westhampton Beach protested the beating.  
 
 
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