ERIC LENKOWITZ and PHILIP MESSING
NY Post Online
Inside the Ground Zero Protest
AP Photo/Stuart Ramson
Firefighters rally at ground zero at the disaster site of New York's World Trade Center, Friday
Nov. 2, 2001. Firefighters protested a plan to scale back the number of fire and police personnel
searching for remains at the World Trade Center site. Some firefighters, who were among several
hundred protesters, tangled with police who initially refused to allow them into the sealed-off
area around the collapsed towers.
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November 8, 2001 -- The number of firefighters assigned to search for remains at ground zero will double from 25 to 50 per shift, a Fire Department source said yesterday.
The increase follows the arrests of 15 firefighters who scuffled with police last week as they protested a cut in the number of Fire Department searchers at the World Trade Center rubble.
But the anger over the manpower decrease lingered yesterday, as the head of the 250,000-member International Association of Fire Fighters announced that it would postpone a memorial service set for Nov. 18 until Mayor-elect Michael Bloomberg takes office.
"We plan to hold a service at a later date with new city leadership that will be more sensitive to the emotions of all those whose loved ones and colleagues are still entombed at the WTC site," said Harold Schaitberger, IAFF president.
Three of the 15 firefighters charged in the melee were arrested yesterday. Sean Nealon, Michael DeStefano and Edward Zeilman were charged with criminal trespass, and Nealon was also charged with third-degree assault.
