From the New York Times, December 31, 1999:
"Raid leaves a community stunned, and on edge," by David Barstow
For the full story, please see
www.nytimes.com/99/12/31/news/national/regional/ny-raid-terror.html
"Police officers are a familiar presence to the people who live and work in
the Midwood section of Brooklyn, a bustling, largely Pakistani enclave that
has struggled over the last decade to cut crime and revive a fraying
neighborhood.
"But those who caught sight of the swarming F.B.I. agents yesterday morning
understood instantly that something out of the ordinary was about to occur.
" 'It was total chaos,' said Joe VanDusky Jr., who works in an electronics
store.
"By the dozens, the agents emerged quickly and silently from a caravan of
unmarked cars that pulled to a stop at dawn on a quiet stretch of East
Eighth Street. Many were dressed entirely in black, from their pullover face
masks to their body armor. They carried protective shields, battering rams,
assault weapons. Some led police dogs.
"They made their way down side streets toward their target, a three-story
building at the corner of Newkirk and Coney Island Avenues, and then raced
inside -- some through the main entry and others up a fire escape -- until
they were crowded into a narrow second-floor hallway outside apartment No.
1. Smashing the door open, they burst inside screaming.
" 'It was 10 minutes of wrestling,' recalled Sebastian Pinochet, 19, who
lives in the next-door apartment.
"As word spread that the agents had come looking for associates of a
suspected Algerian terrorist, the neighborhood reacted with two distinct
strains of fear: one of terrorism itself, the other of being unfairly
stigmatized by law enforcement agencies and the news media.
" 'Of course, I'm nervous,' said Ahmad Khaid, who works in a grocery across
the street from the apartment building. 'I never saw anything wrong,' he
said of the men who lived in the raided apartment. 'They were customers and
they seemed like good people. I hope that it's not true. Things like this
give Islam a bad name.'
"Agents announced the arrest of one tenant, whom they identified as Abdel
Ghani, a 31-year-old Algerian, who they said had traveled to Seattle this
month to meet Ahmed Ressam, the man charged with trying to smuggle
explosives and timing devices across the Canadian border. A second man who
was in the Brooklyn apartment was being held by immigration authorities. Two
others were released, and one of the two returned to the apartment late
yesterday afternoon.
" . . . With the police cordoning off an entire block yesterday as F.B.I.
evidence technicians completed a methodical search of the apartment, several
residents said they were worried that law enforcement officials were
unfairly singling out their neighborhood for terrorists because of its large
Muslim population.
". . . And Mahmudur Rahman, 18, said he and his friends were stopped and
detained by F.B.I. agents yesterday morning as they drove up Coney Island
Avenue. The agents
apparently were alarmed by the license plates on Mr. Rahman's van, from
Ontario, Canada.
"The authorities have been searching in Canada for possible accomplices, but
Mr. Rahman offered a simple explanation for the plates. He said he is a
student from Toronto visiting family in Brooklyn.
" 'They had their guns drawn,' Mr. Rahman said, clearly shaken by the
experience.
" 'They told everyone to come out of the car, they detained us for about an
hour and a half. They searched the van, and looked through our wallets. They
thought we could be suspects.
" 'I never expected something like this to happen here.'
"Mr. Rahman said he and his friends were released. Tariq Khother, another
resident, said he had noticed helicopters circling the area for several
nights. 'Three straight nights, we cannot sleep and our children cannot
sleep," said Mr. Khother, a native of Pakistan. 'They're watching anyone who
is Muslim. They're treating us like animals.'"
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
THE AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL
1212 NEW YORK AVENUE, NW, SUITE 400
WASHINGTON, DC 20005
PHONE : (202) 789-2262
FAX : (202) 789-2550
E-MAIL : [log in to unmask] >>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|