Administrator criticized over response during swearing-in
The New York Civil Liberties Union sent Beacon Mayor Lee Kyriacou and City Administrator Chris White a letter last week criticizing White for his reaction in January to a protest during the City Council swearing-in ceremony.
As Rep. Pat Ryan, whose U.S. House district includes Beacon, spoke before the mayor and council members took their oaths at the Memorial Building, four protesters in the back of the room — three of them Beacon residents, according to the NYCLU — attempted to unfurl a banner calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.
White and several veterans stood in front of the protesters and gripped their banner so it could not be opened. As police and the veterans escorted the protesters out, White wrested a cardboard sign from one of them. Another shouted: “How many more people have to die before you support a cease-fire?” referring to Ryan’s position at the time on the war.
NYCLU attorney Beth Haroules wrote in the April 2 letter that the organization considered the swearing-in a “limited public forum” and that White had violated the state’s Open Meetings Law and the U.S. Constitution by preventing the protesters from displaying the banner.
Haroules requested that Kyriacou and White acknowledge that the city “should have let the protesters hold their banner and not be threatened with arrest, and ensure that such events” be handled consistent with state and federal law.
An NYCLU representative said in an email on April 3 that a “community member” who was not a protester alerted the organization to the incident. The organization did not respond to follow-up questions.
Kyriacou addressed the situation during a City Council meeting on Jan. 22. He said he supported the First Amendment but that the protesters had made some people feel unsafe. He urged the community to “work out a way that everyone, and not just the protesters, feels safe.”
Regarding White’s response, the mayor said it was a personnel issue and that he had “already acted on it.”
Nick Ward-Willis, the council’s attorney, said Thursday (April 11) that the city “respects the First Amendment and the right to peaceful protest but also must ensure that public meetings are not disrupted.” He noted that the NYCLU letter was sent several months after the event “and does not include a number of pertinent facts.”
“The city is waiting for a return call from the NYCLU and we look forward to having a constructive discussion with them on the matter,” he said.
