Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Doctor and Left Voice Correspondent Mike Pappas is Arrested by the NYPD at Black Lives Matter Protest

Mike Pappas is a doctor and a member of the Left Voice editorial board. He was arrested tonight while he acted as a medic at a South Bronx Black Lives Matter Protest. *Update: Mike was freed on Friday morning.*

Left Voice

June 4, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share
PH Luigi Morris

A month ago, Mayor de Blasio and Governor Cuomo spoke ad nauseum about how great our “healthcare heroes” on the frontlines of battling the coronavirus were. Now, a month later, these same healthcare heroes are being arrested for standing up against police violence and defending Black lives. Mike Pappas, Left Voice member and doctor was one of the three healthcare workers arrested. He and all others should be released immediately, along with all other prisoners.

On June 4 a small crowd of about 100 people gathered for a Black Lives Matter protest in the South Bronx. They were there to demand justice for Black lives and all those affected by police brutality. The protest began with speeches by organizers and was followed by a peaceful march through the community. They walked through public housing apartments and were met with cheers by community members. 

Many medics, made up of a team of doctors and nurses from NYC who have been fighting on the frontlines of the coronavirus, were present at the protest and were prepared to protect the protesters from the hundreds of heavily armed officers who were surrounding the area. As the crowd marched through the neighborhood, the medics positioned themselves arm in arm at the back of the crowd to ensure that the cops couldn’t enter into the group. 

Immediately as 8pm struck and the curfew went into place, the cops attacked. The healthcare workers were immediately arrested, including Mike Pappas, a medical doctor in NYC and correspondent for Left Voice, as well as two other nurses. Just one minute before the arrest Mike was live-streaming for Left Voice, saying “can you believe this?” as he filmed a huge crowd of cops. With the healthcare workers out of the way, the cops rushed the crowd and began beating and batoning the peaceful protesters. Many were held to the ground as cops punched and arrested them.

Mike was there to provide medical assistance and ensure the safety of the protesters. His arrest is part of the violent round ups happening after curfew of people who are doing nothing more than standing outside after 8 pm demanding justice for George Floyd and all victims of racist police violence. As he was arrested, an announcement from a police van can be heard in the background declaring that only essential workers were permitted to be outside. Although “essential workers” are permitted to be out past curfew, healthcare workers were arrested for showing up to demand that Black Lives Matter.



Despite all of the hollow rhetoric about “health care heroes” de Blasio and Cuomo’s police force are arresting healthcare workers. The same healthcare workers who a few months ago fought COVID-19 without enough PPE and in overcrowded and underfunded hospitals. This is how the state thanks these “frontline heroes.” 

As Mike has put it, “healthcare workers need to condemn and actively join in the fight against racist institutions like policing that are truly rotten to their core. We need to leave our offices and take to the streets.”

Tonight Mike took to the streets and was arrested for it. Free Mike. Free all prisoners and drop all charges.

Update: Early Friday morning, Mike was released. He was kept in a very small cell with over a dozen other people without masks. Mike says, “The entire system is of policing is completely corrupt. It’s a completely racist system based on a system of slave patrols. And all police are bad. all cops are bad. The NYPD’s budget needs to be defunded to zero. We don’t need any of them.”

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

United States

20 Years Since the U.S. Invasion of Iraq: A Reflection from a Socialist in the Heart of Imperialism

A Left Voice member and anti-war activist reflects on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and how he learned to hate U.S. imperialism.

Sam Carliner

March 20, 2023

Train Derailment in Metro Detroit Illustrates That Capitalist Control of the Railroads Is Fundamentally Unsafe

With the capitalists in control of the railroads, they will destroy the environment and poison and kill workers. The catastrophe in East Palestine will not be the last if we don’t nationalize our railroads and put the safety of people and the environment over profit.

Emma Boyhtari

February 28, 2023
East Palestine, Ohio in the distance at night, smoke and fire springing up due to the train derailment.

The Ohio Train Disaster Is on Biden’s Hands

Just months after President Biden and Congress blocked railway workers from striking over dangerous working conditions, the exact type of disaster that workers predicted has come to pass. The fate of East Palestine must be a wake-up call for the labor and climate movements to fight for the nationalization of the railroads under workers’ control.

B.C. Daurelle

February 15, 2023
US President Joe Biden speaks during a State of the Union address with US Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California, right, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Biden is speaking against the backdrop of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt ceiling.

Biden’s Populist Speech Can’t Cover Up Capitalist Crisis

Biden tried to paint a picture of a United States that has come back stronger after the pandemic. But despite his populist rhetoric and laundry list of policies, none of these measures can address the real needs of the vast majority of the working class and poor who have been exploited and oppressed for much longer than the last two years.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

February 8, 2023

MOST RECENT

On Monday, Germany Will Experience a “Mega-Strike”

On March 27, German railway workers and public sector employees will shut down the whole country. All trains are being canceled. Airports, freeways, hospitals, and daycare centers will all be affected.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 25, 2023

France: On the Frontlines of the War Against Austerity

The French masses have raised the banner of class struggle in what is becoming the first major battle against austerity after the pandemic. Working people across the world should pay attention.

James Dennis Hoff

March 25, 2023

Despite Threats of Arrest, Refinery Workers in France Refuse to Break Strike

As energy strikes continue, France is faced with a kerosene shortage that’s creating an urgent situation at the country’s airports. With capitalist profits on the line, the government has attempted to force Normandy refinery workers back to work through an anti-strike legal weapon called requisitions. In their first victory, refinery workers forced the police to withdraw in an incredible demonstration of solidarity.

Nathan Erderof

March 24, 2023

“We Need Action Committees Everywhere”: Building the General Strike in France

Workers across France are organizing action committees to build a general strike to take down the Macron government and the Fifth Republic.

Arthur Nicola

March 24, 2023