New York, NY – On Saturday, October 26, members of the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) led a speakout in Restoration Plaza in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn. Speakers highlighted NYAARPR’s campaign, Cops Off the Trains - an initiative aimed at reducing the over-policing of the subway and buses.

Speakers advocated for an immediate stop to criminalizing fare evasion, which has led to multiple violent encounters between low-income New Yorkers and police. Their demands also included redirecting funding from police to community resources such as schools, housin, and transit, as well as the establishment of community control of the police.

“We deserve to live in a city that prioritizes the people, not money!” said Shivani Ishwar, chair of NYAARPR. “We demand that the city fund our communities, not the cops!”

The speakout is part of an ongoing series rallying the people of Brooklyn to fight against the injustice of surveillance and over-policing in the transit system. The series will conclude with a rally on November 9, to put pressure on Mayor Eric Adams and other local and state officials to prioritize communities over cops.

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