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American Morning

Many Charges Against Firefighters Dropped

Aired November 05, 2001 - 09:08   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In New York, a confrontation between firefighters and police at Ground Zero resulted in charges being filed against 10 firefighters over the weekend. Some of those charges have been dropped, some have been reduced, tempers have cooled somewhat this morning, but let's look ahead. CNN's Michael Okwu has latest from Ground Zero. This is a dispute which continues to simmer. I'm curious. Are we expecting to see more demonstrations, perhaps?

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Nothing is on the books right now, Miles, but we are told that the firefighters are still very, very bitter about the mayor's decision to scale back the numbers here, so we're waiting to see what might develop throughout the course of today. Now, as you mentioned, yesterday the head of -- the president, I should say, of the union representing fire officers was charged with criminal trespass. Now that came one day after the head of the firefighters union was arrested on the same charge.

Now all of this, of course, stems from a very emotional protest on Friday, where some 12 firefighters were arrested, 5 police officers were hurt -- were injured. This, of course, in a scuffle when firefighters stormed past a police barricade. Most of those charges, as you mentioned, have been dropped. These were felony charges of assault and inciting riot. Over the weekend those charges, again, were dropped or reduced, but it has not at all cooled tempers in the city's fire hazards.

The mayor has said, emphatically, that he made this decision because of safety reasons. There were so many people milling around Ground Zero and there were so many close calls over the past few weeks. He has called the actions of the firefighters on Friday completely unacceptable, and the police department says that it will not tolerate any violence.

So we await to see what might happen today or in the coming days. We want to show you live pictures, now, of Ground Zero. You might not be able to see from this vantage point. I think on the lower left- hand corner, you see that it continues to smoke weeks after September 11. It is no less haunting today than it was on September 12th.

And, of course, there is still some 3,933 people missing. Many of them, of course -- or a fraction of them, certainly more than firefighters would like to admit, are, in fact, firefighters. And they say that they want to be intimately involved in the recovery effort because they know so many of their fallen brethren. Which is why they would like to be here when their remains are found and so that they can pay their proper respects.

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