Fairfield GOP Decries Town Dems After Protest Halted Police Event

FAIRFIELD, CT — The head of Fairfield’s Republican committee is criticizing town Democrats following a news conference that was called by local law enforcement about a police reform bill, but was cut short by protesters.

“The political nature of the protest became obvious when protestors got intentionally louder in an attempt to drown out the Republican State Representatives Laura Devlin and Brian Farnen, who were present to share their concerns about the legislation and the process it had followed,” Republican Town Committee Chairman Jack Testani said Thursday in a news release.

The event Monday outside the Fairfield police station was held so officials could express their apprehensions about House Bill 6004, which was introduced in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody, and, as of Tuesday, had passed in both the state House and Senate. Among a long list of scheduled speakers Monday in Fairfield were First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick and Chief of Police Christopher Lyddy, as well as Devlin and Farnen.

Prior to the news conference, about 50 people gathered outside the station, many of whom appeared to support the police. As the event began, the makeup of the crowd changed when a large group of demonstrators with signs approached, chanting over officials, blocking the road and bringing the news conference to a halt before half the scheduled speakers took the podium. Many demonstrators remained outside the station about an hour after the event ended.

Testani took particular issue with the protesters’ use of language he characterized as profane, obscene and misogynistic. In an op-ed following the event, Kupchick said she and other speakers were “called a shocking array of profanities and further insulted with vulgarities displayed on posters” and that she was “extremely disheartened by the behavior of the protesters.”

Testani noted Fairfield Democratic Town Committee Chairman Steve Sheinberg’s presence at the news conference, and questioned why Sheinberg did not intervene to stop the protesters’ “verbal assault” or make his presence known. Additionally, Testani accused Sheinberg of quickly leaving the event once he was identified.

Sheinberg responded with a prepared statement Friday in which he expressed anger about Testani’s comments and referenced a photo released by the town Republicans of Sheinberg standing with his arms crossed outside the police station at Monday’s event.

“As DTC chairman, I am outraged over the RTC chairman’s press release, which is riddled with blatantly false information,” Sheinberg said. “This event was a press conference that the public was invited to attend. As a citizen of Fairfield and as DTC Chairman, I was there to listen, as were so many residents, Republicans and Democrats alike. In the picture the RTC released of me, I am clearly listening ... not protesting. When the press conference concluded, I left.

“While neither the DTC nor I organized or participated in the protest, it was also not our job to silence the protesters, who are allowed to exercise their First Amendment rights just as much as those at the podium. And while I did not personally hear profanity or vulgarity from protesters, I and the DTC have never and will never condone vulgarity at such public events from anyone.”

According to Testani, the protest was organized by the civil liberties group Fairfield Standing United, whose membership includes Democrat officials in town.

“Some of our members attended the press conference on Monday to show support for the police accountability bill HB 6004,” the organization said in a prepared statement. “We understand that other groups showed up as a result of social media sharing. We want to emphasize that while we stand in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, we denounce hate speech directed at law enforcement and elected officials, including any misogynistic language allegedly aimed at the female elected officials who spoke.”

The group added that a community conversation — like the one Kupchick facilitated in June after Floyd’s death and the subsequent widespread protests against racism and police brutality — could have more effectively unified the town in addressing concerns about the reform bill.

“Given the backdrop of recent national events, we saw that the gathering quickly became an expression of pain and frustration arising from the lived experiences of people of color in our town and surrounding areas,” the statement said. “Fairfield Standing United values the First Amendment rights of all citizens and we look forward to opportunities for constructive and open dialogue with all community stakeholders in the future.”