Ten people were arrested during a “funeral march” over the Brooklyn Bridge for Cobble Hill’s Long Island College Hospital on Wednesday evening after they stopped traffic on the Manhattan side near City Hall.
Hundreds of protestors dressed in ceremonial black garb and veils marched over the Brooklyn Bridge’s walkway shouting “They say cut back! We say fight back!” as they crossed the bridge and headed into the Manhattan street where Councilman Brad Lander and others were cuffed by police for disorderly conduct.
The hospital doctors, nurses, and staff claimed they were upset about he loss of their jobs and the unnecessary deaths that they predict will surely occur once the hospital is gone.
“It’s about all the lives that will be lost as a result,” Michael Hertz from the New York State Nurses Association.
Some longtime hospital workers also lamented the fact that they may be forced into early retirement once the Cobble Hill institution is shuttered.
“Well I’m not going to look for any other job. I’m sixty years old,” said Lenora Hospedales, who has been working as a neurology nurse for more than 20 years.
Police cuffed Lander and others during the protest, which came a week after the state approved key parts of the plan to close Cobble Hill’s Long Island College Hospital.
Protestors argue that the state is in contempt of court for violating a temporary restraining order blocking any action to close Long Island College Hospital.
The state’s hospital administrators will defend themselves against this charge in a contempt of court hearing that was rescheduled for next Monday.
Lander was honored on Tuesday by President Obama in the White House for being a “champion of change” thanks to his so-called “participatory budget” that lets residents decide how to spend $1 million in municipal funds.
The protesters were also demanding that financially strapped Interfaith Medical Center in Bedford-Stuyvesant remain open.
Reach reporter Jaime Lutz at jlutz@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow her on Twitter @jaime_lutz.
