Grassroots Coalition Against Buffer Zone Bills Statement on the Passage of Intros 1-B and 175-B

STATEMENT ON THE PASSAGE OF INTROS 1-B AND 175-B

Yesterday, the New York City Council voted to pass Intros 1-B and 175-B, two bills that task the NYPD with establishing anti-protest buffer zones surrounding houses of worship and educational institutions. Both are blatant attacks against pro-Palestine protest and protected dissent at large.

Despite the passage of these bills, we celebrate the tireless grassroots mobilization that has severely diminished their draconian reach and the direct harm they sought to enact on our communities. Unlike the initial proposals, the final bills no longer include blanket buffer perimeters of up to 100 feet on protests.

The dilution of these bills, to the point that the NYPD insisted that it will not change its practice nor create any new legal authority or criminal liability, marks a humiliating defeat for Julie Menin's rapidly floundering Speakership, and her attempt to institute sweeping anti-Palestinian protest bans that would ultimately silence all New Yorkers. The many councilmembers who fell for Speaker Menin's empty promises betrayed their own constituents, choosing to silence them and exposing them to intensified NYPD brutality. They failed to see the bills for what they really are: an attempt to suppress pro-Palestine protests outside synagogues and college campuses complicit in US-Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians, as well as an attack against all New Yorkers mobilizing for justice.

Disturbingly, our local representatives have chosen to mirror the federal administration’s policy of cracking down on dissent. We are particularly concerned that members of the Council’s so-called Progressive Caucus allowed either of these bills to move forward. Councilmembers Nurse, Epstein, Brewer, Marte, Won, De La Rosa, Encarnacion, Aldebol, Farías, Thomas-Henry, Krishnan, Williams, Restler, Gutiérrez, Hudson, Joseph, Pierina Sanchez and Justin Sanchez — you are on notice. We will not forget that you voted to pass bills that will further harm New Yorkers and discourage protest.

Likewise, we will not forget the councilmembers who fought for our rights: Councilmembers Ossé, Aviles, Cabán, Hanif, and Santosuosso for rejecting both bills, as well as Councilmember Stevens for rejecting 175-B and abstaining on 1-B.

We are proud of the grassroots campaign we advanced in opposition to these attacks on New Yorkers. We outnumbered supporters of the bill at the February 25th hearing, applied enough pressure to water down the bills, and strengthened the bonds between our diverse organizations. Our coalition brought together all kinds of New Yorkers — pro-Palestine advocates, anti-war organizers, reproductive justice activists, faith leaders, labor and housing unions, LGBTQ+ groups, workers, teachers, and students of all ages. For the first time in City Hall, we directly called on our officials to address the issue that these bills seek to protect in the first place: the illegal sales of stolen Palestinian land taking place in our city. We reminded City Council members that while they are busy stifling our free speech, real estate companies are still using houses of worship in our neighborhoods to commit state, federal, and international crimes.

Our coalition will continue to campaign at the state level against Governor Hochul’s proposed buffer zone legislation, which seeks to go even further than the city bills in criminalizing protest. And despite the passage of these bills, we will continue to protest genocide.

Free Palestine. We will never be silenced.

Signed,

The grassroots coalition against buffer bills:

139 for Palestine

Al Quds Day Committee of New York

ARMOR Coalition (Armenian Organized Resistance)

Art Against Displacement (AAD)

Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys - UAW 2325

Brooklyn Against War

Brooklyn College Students for Justice in Palestine

Capital District DSA

CCNY Students for Justice in Palestine (CCNY SJP)

CODEPINK NYC

College of Staten Island Students for Justice in Palestine (CSI SJP)

Columbia-Barnard YDSA

Crown Heights Tenant Union Palestine Solidarity Working Group

CUNY for Palestine

CUNY Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (CUNY FSJP)

CUNY Graduate Center for Palestine

CUNY Students for Justice in Palestine (CUNY SJP)

CUNY Law Students for Justice in Palestine (CUNY Law SJP)

CU Stands Up

DRUM (Desis Rising Up and Moving)

Fordham YDSA

Indivisible Manhattan

Jews Against White Supremacy (JAWS)

Justice Committee

Making Mensches

National Lawyers Guild International Committee

National Women's Liberation - NYC Chapter

National Students for Justice in Palestine

New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR)

New York City Labor for Palestine

New York City Students for Justice in Palestine (NYC SJP)

NOLSW, UAW Local 2320

NYC-DSA Anti-War Working Group

NYC-DSA Socialist Feminists

NYC for Abortion Rights

NYC PYM

NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine

NYU National Lawyers Guild Board

NYU Students for a Democratic Society

NYC Young Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-YDSA)

PAL-Awda NY/NJ

Palestinian Feminist Collective

Palestine Solidarity Working Group

Party for Socialism and Liberation Albany/Hudson Valley

Queer Liberation March

Rise and Resist

SALAM (South Asian Left)

Shoresh

Springs of Revolution NYC

Sudanese Resistance Front (SuRF)

SUNY BDS

SWC UAW Local 2710 (Student Workers of Columbia)

The Bushwick-Ridgewood Shul

The New School YDSA

Undocumented Women's Fund

Westchester for Palestine

Within Our Lifetime

Writers Against the War on Gaza