Dozen arrests as hospital protest jams Brooklyn Bridge
SUNY puts 650 LICH employees on 'administrative leave'
Hundreds mourning the imminent “death” of two major Brooklyn Hospitals, Long Island College Hospital (LICH) and Interfaith Medical Center, took part in a spectacle-filled New Orleans-style funeral march over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall late Wednesday.
While a brass band played funeral jazz, weeping protesters carried coffins and tombstones. Cars, including a gray hearse, blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. Hundreds joined the procession on the Manhattan side and still more merged with the crowd at Foley Square.
About a dozen protesters – including City Councilman Brad Lander, nurses, community members, workers from SEIU 1199 and others – were arrested as they blocked traffic on the bridge in a deliberate act of civil disobedience.