NYC Rally Against GOP Tax Bill Ends In Arrests

FINANCIAL DISTRICT, NY — Police arrested 16 protesters Tuesday as they blocked the entrance to the New York Stock Exchange in protest of the Republican tax bill. The arrests followed a rally outside the Downtown Manhattan building that drew about 200 progressive activists and labor union members.

Cops handcuffed the protesters with zip ties as others continued chanting around them. The 11 men and six women who were arrested refused to move at the end of a "die-in" protest in which about 50 people lay down on Broad Street.

Michael Fabricant, a leader of the City University of New York's faculty union, continued to shout "Tax the rich, not the poor" as he waited to get into a police van. The group of protesters will likely be charged with disorderly conduct, an NYPD spokesman said.

Protesters decried a provision in the Republican tax bill, which is set to get a vote in Congress on Tuesday, that would repeal the federal requirement that every American have health insurance or face a tax penalty. The move will leave more New Yorkers uninsured and even lead to deaths, the activists argued.

"People will literally die in our streets in America," Public Advocate Letita James told the crowd.

Protesters lying on the cobblestone street held up signs shaped like tombstones that read "Died to help the rich get richer" and "Lost Medicaid, no $ for care." The rally drew members of large labor unions such as the New York State Nurses Association and activist groups such as New York Communities for Change and Faith In New York.

Activists called the tax bill as a "war on working people" that will only further enrich the wealthy and big corporations. New York City officials have estimated the bill could cause nearly 700,000 families to see an increase in their federal income taxes, largely because of limits to deductions for state and local taxes, while those with the highest incomes would benefit the most.

The rally represented a last-ditch outcry against the GOP plan from New York, home to some of the bill's most vocal opponents, hours before the House of Representatives passed it. The Senate is also likely to vote on the bill Tuesday.

Activists directed their outrage at the bankers working in the stock exchange and at President Donald Trump, whose real estate company owns a building less than a block away.

Republican lawmakers argue their changes to the tax code will reduce financial burdens on the middle class while stimulating economic growth by cutting the corporate tax rate. But James said that reasoning belies the fact that corporate profits are at record highs.

"If this bill is passed and enacted into law, the system of poverty gains strength, the gap between the haves and the have-nots increases and those suffering will suffer even greater," said the Rev. Brian Ellis Gibbs, the pastor of Queens Baptist Church and a Faith In New York member.

WATCH: 16 Arrested At NYSE For Protesting GOP Tax Bill

(Lead image: A protester is handcuffed at a rally against the Republican tax bill outside the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Photo by Noah Manskar)