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Cornel West, Eve Ensler Host Protest at Washington Square Park This Weekend

By Danielle Tcholakian | October 23, 2015 10:50am
 Cornel West outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Feb. 16, 2012.
Cornel West outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Feb. 16, 2012.
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DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs

GREENWICH VILLAGE — A protest organized by professor Cornel West and Revolutionary Communist Party member Carl Dix against police brutality against black people is set to take place at Washington Square Park on Saturday.

The protest is being referred to as #RiseUpOctober and the promotional materials for it bear the message "Stop Police Terror and Murder! Which Side Are you On?"

It comes just days after NYPD officer Randolph Holder was shot and killed in the line of duty in East Harlem.

In a post on his Facebook page, West promises "Vagina Monologues" writer Eve Ensler and "All My Children" soap opera actor Gina Belafonte will be in attendance.

The protesters plan to start at the Greenwich Village park at 11 a.m., then set out on a march at 1 p.m. to Bryant Park. A rally is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Sixth Avenue and 42nd Street.

A Facebook page for the event lists 1,700 people as having RSVPed, out on 13,000. There were 438 who responded that they would "maybe" go.

The Saturday protest is connected to several national events planned for Friday and readings in New York City of the names of people killed by police officers. The readings will take place at 10 a.m. on 47th Street and Broadway in Times Square and at 2 p.m. at Borough Hall in Brooklyn, followed by a march to the Barclay's Center.

"People won't be able to turn their heads and say they didn't see it," the Facebook page promises. "We will change history."

The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation specified that the protesters do not have permission to be inside the park, only on the street north of the park.