CRITICS INVADE AGENCY OFFICE TO DENOUNCE DRUG POLICY

Angered by city policies that would cut welfare benefits to recipients
who fail drug tests, 20 protesters stormed the Manhattan headquarters
of the city Human Resources Administration Tuesday morning and chained
themselves to desks and chairs until the police arrived to arrest them.

The protesters, mostly from the advocacy group Housing Works, arrived
at 180 Water Street at about 10:30 a.m. and told security personnel
that they were attending meetings, organizers of the protest said.
Entering in groups of two or three, they took elevators to the 25th
floor.

Once inside, they quickly handcuffed themselves to tables and chairs,
the police and organizers said. Charles King, one of Housing Works'
two directors, chained himself to furniture in the office of the Human
Resources commissioner, Jason A. Turner, and sat next to Turner as he
fielded phone calls from the mayor, said Brigid Lang, an assistant to
King.

On the street below, 25 more protesters, blowing whistles to attract
attention, chanted and carried placards that accused Turner of being
"the Grinch who stole benefits."

The occupation ended by 11:30, with the police escorting the
protesters from the agency offices and loading them into two police
trucks. The protesters were taken to the Seventh Precinct station
house and were charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor. They remained
in custody last evening.

Lisa Edwards, a staff lawyer for Housing Works, said the protesters,
who included representatives of AIDS Housing Network, Act Up New York
and the Urban Justice Center, staged the demonstration to bring
attention to Giuliani administration policies that cut welfare
benefits for drug abusers who test positive after a month of treatment.

The protesters said the policy would cause unnecessary interference
with drug treatment and did not take into account the relapses that
even addicts determined to kick their habit are prone to. The
protesters also condemned the mayor's proposal requiring homeless
people to work for their shelter.

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, commenting on the protest at his daily
press briefing, said the protesters broke the law. "You cannot break
into someone's office," he said. "That's a crime to do that. So I
assume they were arrested for doing it and if they do it again, they
will be arrested again."

A spokeswoman for the Human Resources Administration, Debra Sproles,
did not return four phone calls seeking comment. In a statement, the
agency said of the protesters, "It is a disgrace that they oppose the
city's efforts to help poor people gain access to needed support
services that will ultimately help them to move from dependency to
self-sufficiency."

The protest was the second in two days in which demonstrators against
city policies regarding the homeless were arrested.

On Monday night, 10 people, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, were
arrested when they erected tents in City Hall Park in an effort to
test Mayor Giuliani's pledge that homeless people would not be
arrested merely for being homeless. The protesters were cited for
unlawful camping and other violations.

In another protest that led to arrests Tuesday, 10 people were charged
with disorderly conduct after gathering outside the main visitors'
entrance to the United Nations to protest military training exercises
in Vieques, a small island off Puerto Rico where a civilian was killed
by stray bombs in April. The protesters were angry about President
Clinton's decision to resume Navy bombing exercises there next spring.

Housing Works, a nine-year-old group that has a budget of about $19
million and serves more than 2,000 clients, is known for its radical
advocacy and made no apologies for its guerrilla tactics.

"The plan was to go in and tell people they were going to vacate the
offices, and that's what we did," said Michael Kelly, an outreach
worker for Housing Works who helped organize the protest.