CNA Staff, Jun 11, 2020 / 08:30 am
The interim bishop of Buffalo paid tribute to a Catholic peace activist who was hospitalized after an encounter with police last week.
"We stand with all who demonstrate peacefully and speak out against abuse of power and injustice of every kind," Bishop Edward Scharfenberger, apostolic administrator of the diocese of Buffalo, said on Wednesday evening regarding the case of Martin Gugino, a 75 year-old man who friends say is a peace activist in the Catholic Worker Movement founded by Servant of God Dorothy Day.
"We honor Mr. Gugino's witness and service to the Catholic Worker Movement," Scharfenberger said in a statement provided to CNA.
Three of the officers moved towards Gugino and two of them-one with a baton-pushed Gugino away. He fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete, and immediately started bleeding from his ear. One of the officers appeared to stop to look over Gugino, but was promptly moved along by another officer.