La Voz

From Nov. 9 - 11 last year, Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, came to De Anza College to speak as part of the Celebrity Forum Series. His visit to campus was met with massive protest from De Anza students and faculty, as well as local community activists.

On the third night, Veterans Day, protesters clashed with police and arrests were made. Accusations of racial profiling and excessive force by police were made in the days and months following Powell's visit. Six of the eight arrested were Muslims of Arabic and African descent.

The first to be arrested was Brian Helmle, who was arrested inside the Flint Center after interrupting Powell.

Six of the eight arrested had all their charges dropped. Abdul Kareem Al-Hayiek and Hanni Zaki's felony charges were lowered to misdemeanors.

Witnesses say Al-Hayiek, who was 19 at the time, was chased by two police officers on dirt bikes and was knocked down and sprayed in the face with pepper spray. He was the only one to still be in custody awaiting an arraignment for bond. Zaki, 22 then, was hospitalized after police offi cers reportedly injured his head and stepped on his face and beat him with their batons.

Aman Mehrzai, a former De Anza student, was there the night of the protests. "These guys were making them look evil," he said. "If they were such bad guys, then why did they drop all the charges? The FBI goes and intimidates people and puts ridiculous charges on them, especially on the Muslim community. After the damage is done, they drop all the charges. It is like their admittance of guilt."

Mehrzai said that Helmle was the only one of the seven to be released by 1 a.m. that night without any charges. The seven others arrested were taken into custody and were detained overnight. Many felt that the focus of the night was upon those of Middle Eastern and African American descent, even though there were many others involved in the protests.

In the November 21, 2005 issue of La Voz, former DASB President Anna Callaham weighed in on the Powell protesters saying that "they should also know when to step away."

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