Here's a follow-up New York Times blog post on that incident last month at Columbus Park in Chinatown, where amateur video caught a group of NYPD officers forcefully arresting an elderly Chinese man: Arrest of Musician in Chinatown Muffles Park Performances. It apparently started off as a noise complaint over a group of musicians who regularly gather to play Cantonese opera in the park. But the afternoon somehow ended up with 64-year-old musician Wu Yizhou bloodied, handcuffed and on the ground. He was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, using a speaker without a permit and resisting arrest:
The beginning of the struggle in the park is not shown on the video, which starts with Mr. Wu already in handcuffs and on the ground. It then shows an officer telling the encroaching crowd to step back. Voices can be heard yelling in Cantonese: "They're beating him!"So all this was over a speaker? Wu's arrest has apparently changed the popular weekend performances. Without the use of a microphone and amplifier, the singing is subdued. It's quieter, and I guess the haters got what they wanted... I just don't understand why it took a group of cops, mace, handcuffs and a bloody old man to make their point.
Some witnesses said that Mr. Wu had disobeyed orders to leave the park. A police spokesman said the incident was under investigation.
Mr. Wu said the police were unnecessarily rough in apprehending him for a rarely enforced rule against amplification in the park.
"We don't have any other purpose other than to make other people happy and promote our culture," said Mr. Wu, who has been performing music in the park for four years. He said that when he was first approached by a police officer, the performance was just getting started and the speaker had not been turned on.
"For such a small speaker, this has become such a big deal," he said.
