BY GLOVA SCOTT
BROOKLYN, New York - "The best way to apply anger is to go to the march, said Abner Louima, referring to a protest against cop brutality planned for August 29 by the Haitian- American Alliance and a coalition of other organizations. "It will send a strong signal to people in charge that we deplore police brutality... It's intolerable. I think everyone should be an advocate against police brutality."

The action comes on the heals of a 7,000-strong march August 16 and subsequent mobilizations demanding justice in this case.

Louima, a victim of cop torture, spoke from his hospital bed during an interview with the New York Times. The 30-year- old Haitian immigrant, was arrested outside a nightclub on August 9, driven to a nearby alley where he was beaten by several cops. After being taken to the 70th Precinct, two cops dragged him into the men's bathroom with his pants down, forced a toilet plunger into his rectum, and then into his mouth. Louima said the cops had shouted "stupid nigger" as they beat him.

"When you come here you have to endure humiliation and other indignities, like people calling you all kinds of racist names," Louima explained. He remains hospitalized with a pierced lower intestine, a torn bladder, and broken teeth. On August 18 Louima's family announced plans to file a $55 million lawsuit charging that city negligence resulted in him sustaining extensive injuries.

A second Haitian man, Patrick Antoine was also beaten by the cops while walking down the street during the attack on Louima. He was charged with assaulting an officer among other violations, which were later dropped.

This case "is a wake up call for all our communities," Sabrine Albert told nearly 200 people at a town meeting in Brooklyn. The August 24 meeting was held at a local church to protest the cop assault against Louima. Albert, a member of the National Coalition of Haitian Rights, urged the audience and organizations to combat police brutality. `We are not talking about bandage solutions," she added. The 11 Haitian organizations sponsoring the town meeting has called for the immediate dismissal of all police personnel present in the 70th Precinct police building the night of the incident.

Carl Thomas, Louima's attorney attending the town meeting, explained his demands that charges for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder be brought against the cops involved. "Which ones did the act and which ones saw and did nothing - those are issues," he said. Thomas also urged people to attend the October 29 demonstration.

A firestorm of outrage against the torture case has sent New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and other city officials scrambling from the damage of the fallout. In the week following media reports of the beating, arrests in the 70th Precinct dropped almost 55 percent.

So far, two officers from the 70th Precinct, Justin Volpe and Charles Schwarz have been charged with brutalizing Louima. Two other officers, Thomas Wiese and Thomas Bruder are charged with beating Louima on the way to the police station. Investigators say that more arrests may follow.

Louima's attorneys' assert that the cops hid or destroyed evidence in their attempts to cover up the case. After the beating, Louima, wearing handcuffs, was put in a holding cell for 90 minutes. After about 40 minutes the police place a low priority call for medical treatment of "lacerations." The ambulance arrived at the precinct 25 minutes later. After waiting for an hour and a half for the police escort, the ambulance finally took Louima for treatment at the Coney Island Hospital.

There the police told doctors that Louima was injured as a result of homosexual activity. Magalie Laurent, a nurse at the hospital said some supervisors tried to keep the truth from getting out. But nurses treating Louima refused to be part of a cover-up and asked Laurent to call Louima's family, the police and the media. "`I know that you are Haitian,'" Laurent recalled one nurse said to her. "`You should know what happened. You mustn't keep it a secret. We must let everybody know.'" She described the reaction of the internal affairs officer who took the call. Laurent said, "it seemed like he didn't care. I knew that they hadn't taken my call seriously."  
 
 
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