- NEW YORK (Reuters)
- Ten New York firefighters were charged with misdemeanors early on Saturday
over clashes with the police during a protest near the World Trade Center
against cuts in the number of workers assigned to comb the rubble of the
remains.
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- Firefighters and policemen, praised as heroes after the
Sept. 11 attack, clashed on Friday near ground zero when firemen overturned
barricades and punched police officers during the protest by some 1,000
firefighters.
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- Five policemen were assaulted and 12 firefighters arrested
when firefighters broke through police barricades near the site of their
finest hour in protests over recovery personnel cuts the mayor said were
needed for safety reasons but firefighters said were a matter of money.
-
- Early on Saturday, Manhattan District Attorney charged
10 of the firefighters with obstruction of governmental administration,
disorderly conduct and trespassing -- all misdemeanors. Two of the 12 arrested
were not charged.
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- The audience applauded the firefighters as they left
the court. The 10 are to appear for another hearing on Dec. 18.
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- On Friday, the protesting firefighters headed to the
site of the collapsed towers, shouting ``Bring them home'' in a reference
to their fallen comrades. They held a brief prayer and then walked through
Lower Manhattan to City Hall as onlookers cheered.
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- ``There is no question that emotions are very, very high
for all of us,'' New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told a news conference.
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- ``But the reality is the kind of conduct displayed today
is unacceptable. You cannot hit police officers. You can't disobey the
law,'' he said.
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- APOLOGY AND CONDEMNATION
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- Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen offered an apology
on behalf of the department to the police.
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- ``They have been our brothers in this tragedy since day
one,'' Von Essen said.
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- Robert Straub of the United Firemen's Association said
the arrests were unjust. ``This case is a lot of bullshit. There is a lot
of innocent people in this crowd and the police pushed our guys,'' he told
Reuters.
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- The number of firefighters and police involved in recovering
remains from the attack site, where officials estimate almost 4,600 people
were killed, has reached into the hundreds. Under a new plan announced
this week, that number would be reduced to about 100 uniformed personnel,
working 24 hours a day.
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- ``This is a war and we want to get our fallen brothers
off the battlefield,'' one member of Engine 42 in the Bronx, who asked
not to be named, told Reuters.
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- Several firefighters said the disaster site was safer
now than on Sept. 11 and the reason for the personnel cuts was to save
the city money as they shifted work at the ground zero to ''scoop, dump,
and sift for body parts.''
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- About 350 firefighters, who were dispatched to rescue
the tens of thousands of people in the World Trade Center, died when the
buildings collapsed after suicide plane attacks on Sept. 11. About 250
firefighters remain missing.
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