Pubdate: Wed, 08 Dec 1999 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 1999 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Forum: http://www10.nytimes.com/comment/ Author: Juan Forero CRITICS INVADE AGENCY OFFICE TO DENOUNCE DRUG POLICY Angered by city policies that would cut welfare benefits to recipients who fail drug tests, 20 protesters stormed the Manhattan headquarters of the city Human Resources Administration Tuesday morning and chained themselves to desks and chairs until the police arrived to arrest them. The protesters, mostly from the advocacy group Housing Works, arrived at 180 Water Street at about 10:30 a.m. and told security personnel that they were attending meetings, organizers of the protest said. Entering in groups of two or three, they took elevators to the 25th floor. Once inside, they quickly handcuffed themselves to tables and chairs, the police and organizers said. Charles King, one of Housing Works' two directors, chained himself to furniture in the office of the Human Resources commissioner, Jason A. Turner, and sat next to Turner as he fielded phone calls from the mayor, said Brigid Lang, an assistant to King. On the street below, 25 more protesters, blowing whistles to attract attention, chanted and carried placards that accused Turner of being "the Grinch who stole benefits." The occupation ended by 11:30, with the police escorting the protesters from the agency offices and loading them into two police trucks. The protesters were taken to the Seventh Precinct station house and were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor. They remained in custody last evening. Lisa Edwards, a staff lawyer for Housing Works, said the protesters, who included representatives of AIDS Housing Network, Act Up New York and the Urban Justice Center, staged the demonstration to bring attention to Giuliani administration policies that cut welfare benefits for drug abusers who test positive after a month of treatment. The protesters said the policy would cause unnecessary interference with drug treatment and did not take into account the relapses that even addicts determined to kick their habit are prone to. The protesters also condemned the mayor's proposal requiring homeless people to work for their shelter. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, commenting on the protest at his daily press briefing, said the protesters broke the law. "You cannot break into someone's office," he said. "That's a crime to do that. So I assume they were arrested for doing it and if they do it again, they will be arrested again." A spokeswoman for the Human Resources Administration, Debra Sproles, did not return four phone calls seeking comment. In a statement, the agency said of the protesters, "It is a disgrace that they oppose the city's efforts to help poor people gain access to needed support services that will ultimately help them to move from dependency to self-sufficiency." The protest was the second in two days in which demonstrators against city policies regarding the homeless were arrested. On Monday night, 10 people, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, were arrested when they erected tents in City Hall Park in an effort to test Mayor Giuliani's pledge that homeless people would not be arrested merely for being homeless. The protesters were cited for unlawful camping and other violations. In another protest that led to arrests Tuesday, 10 people were charged with disorderly conduct after gathering outside the main visitors' entrance to the United Nations to protest military training exercises in Vieques, a small island off Puerto Rico where a civilian was killed by stray bombs in April. The protesters were angry about President Clinton's decision to resume Navy bombing exercises there next spring. Housing Works, a nine-year-old group that has a budget of about $19 million and serves more than 2,000 clients, is known for its radical advocacy and made no apologies for its guerrilla tactics. "The plan was to go in and tell people they were going to vacate the offices, and that's what we did," said Michael Kelly, an outreach worker for Housing Works who helped organize the protest. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake