Police Arrest Anti-War Protester, 80, At Mall
Published on Sunday, March 30, 2008 by Newsday.com (New York)
by Anastasia Economides & Matthew Chayes
An 80-year-old church deacon was removed from the Smith Haven Mall
yesterday in a wheelchair and arrested by police for refusing to remove
a T-shirt protesting the Iraq War.
Police said that Don Zirkel, of Bethpage, was disturbing shoppers at
the Lake Grove mall with his T-shirt, which had what they described as
`graphic anti-war images.’ Zirkel, a deacon at Our Lady of the
Miraculous Medal in Wyandanch, said his shirt had the death tolls of
American military personnel and Iraqis – 4,000 and 1 million – and the
words `Dead’ and `Enough.’ The shirt also has three blotches resembling
blood splatters.
Police said in a release last night that Zirkel was handing out
anti-war pamphlets to mallgoers and that mall security told him to stop
and turn his shirt inside out. Zirkel refused to turn his shirt inside
out and wouldn’t leave, police said. Security placed him on `civilian
arrest’ and called police. When police arrived, Zirkel passively
resisted attempts to bring him to a police car, the release said.
But Zirkel said he was sitting in the food court drinking coffee with
his wife Marie, 77, and several others when police and mall security
officers approached and demanded they remove their anti-war T-shirts.
The others complied, but Zirkel said he refused, and when he wouldn’t
stand up to be removed and arrested, authorities brought over a
wheelchair. `They forcibly picked me up and put me in the wheelchair,’
said Zirkel, a deacon at one of the poorest Catholic parishes on Long
Island, where a devastating fire recently destroyed the rectory and
storage areas.
Zirkel was charged with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest. He
was released on bail. A spokeswoman for mall owner Simon Property Group
did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Generally speaking, a mall has the right to control what happens on its
property, said John McEntee, a Uniondale commercial litigation lawyer.
Activists with dueling opinions had gathered to support and oppose
America’s five-year campaign.
As Zirkel was being wheeled to the police car, the crowd chanted `We
shall not be moved!’ Moments later, they moved; police and mall
security had ordered them off the property. Many joined a larger
anti-war crowd assembled by the mall’s entrance, off mall property, on
Veterans Memorial Highway.
They were complemented nearby by protesters saying the Iraq war is
vital for security.