Protesters Arrested At Rally For Heroin Injection Sites

NEW YORK CITY HALL — Police arrested 11 protesters at a Wednesday rally outside City Hall for advocates fed up with Mayor Bill de Blasio's noncommital stance on a proposal for safe heroin injection sites. Many of six men and five women were charged with civil disobedience amid another raucous protest calling for the so-called supervised injection facilities, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

City Councilman Stephen Levin (D-Brooklyn) was reportedly among the arrested protesters, some of whom blocked traffic on Broadway while chanting, according to Twitter posts from the scene.

Advocates argue the facilities reduce overdose deaths and public drug use. Many are frustrated that De Blasio, a Democrat, has not taken a definitive stance on the issue.

"You don't know what it is to lose a brother, a father, a mother, a sister, a child, over a overdose," activist Terrell Jones said at the rally, according to a video from the scene.

The push for safe injection sites has support from nearly three dozen advocacy groups and some political figures, including Levin and former Mayor David Dinkins. At least 98 such sites are operating in 66 cities around the world, but New York would be the first U.S. city to open them, according to the SIF NYC campaign.

The city commissioned a Department of Health report on the issue that was supposed to be published in April. On Friday, de Blasio said City Hall would release the report and take a position on the issue "in a matter of days," but it still has not come out.

"I just want to start New Yorkers thinking about the fact that however we handle this, it is a very complex matter legally and in terms of law enforcement," de Blasio said Friday in his weekly radio interview with WNYC.

Advocates argue that drug users already shoot up in public places, such as parks, stairwells and bathrooms. Safe injection sites would give addicts access to sterile equipment and drug treatment, cutting down on overdose deaths, infections and the risk of HIV, supporters say.

A mayoral spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated where supervised injection facilities currently operate. They are open in 66 cities around the world, not 66 countries.

(Lead image: Police arrested 11 protesters at a rally for supervised injection facilities on Wednesday. Photo by Mikola De Roo for Housing Works Inc.)