PATERSON — The Paterson chapter of the NAACP is calling on the Passaic County prosecutor to drop charges against three boys, one of whom is 6, who are accused of fatally torturing a neighborhood cat, an incident whose reaction on the Internet has provoked an angry backlash in Paterson on behalf of the boys.The statement came amid protests by city residents to harsh online comments about the accused boys, who are ages 12, 10, and 6, as well as resentment about outsiders’ opinions about life in Paterson.In a statement issued Tuesday, the Rev. Kenneth Clayton, the NAACP branch president, said the children were “criminalized and railroaded,” and that the charges “serve no purpose other than to expose these children to a criminal justice system that is often inhumane in its treatment of minorities. . . This is comparable to modern-day lynching.”The animal cruelty charges against the boys raised some eyebrows among legal experts, who said it is rare for 6-year-olds to face criminal court hearings because they are too young to understand what they have done. But experts also said the juvenile justice system is designed to rehabilitate children and not to punish them.The NAACP statement “vehemently” urged the prosecutor’s office to “drop any and all charges” against the boys, and expressed hope that the boys’ families would seek professional help for them. It also called comments made about the children on several social media and news websites “cruel and blatantly racist,” saying they came from outsiders who “have no genuine concern for the present well-being and future of the children involved.”Neither Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes, nor the chief assistant prosecutor who is handling the cat-killing case, Jennifer Tremonte Bedrin, could be reached for comment Tuesday.City school board members Jonathan Hodges and Corey Teague, angered about online comments against the boys, plan to lead a protest on Thursday against participants in a candlelight vigil for the cat that is being organized by animal welfare advocates.“With the things they’ve been saying online, I’m just worried about what they’re going to do when they come here,” Teague said. “We don’t tolerate animal cruelty, but these kids are human beings. They’re not monsters. They’re still babies.”“We’re going to be out there so these people can hear our concerns about our kids,” Hodges said about Thursday’s protest. Hodges said he believed the public outrage about the cat killing prompted authorities to take a harder stand against the boys than they would have otherwise.Harsh comments about the accused boys, some of them racially biased, appeared on websites that covered or commented about the incident. On NorthJersey.com, many comments were blocked from being posted or were rejected because they violated the site's Terms of Service. Because the boys involved are very young and some inappropriate comments still found their way onto the site, the comment function on these articles has been disabled.Renee Olah, an organizer of the vigil who cared for the critically injured cat following the attack, said the vigil is not intended to be an attack on Paterson.“This is going to be a peaceful and quiet event. It’s going to be a candle-light prayer vigil for a cat that was brutally tortured to death,” said Olah, founder of the Chance at Life cat rescue group.She said the accused children needed mental health counseling, but she supported the filing of the animal cruelty charges. “I feel they need help, absolutely, mental health help,” Olah added. “I also think they need a little scare put into them so they don’t do it again. This has nothing to do with the town they came from or the color of their skin.”Olah agreed that some of the online comments about the children involved in the case were “out of control.”The reaction to the cat killing on the Internet has rekindled long-simmering resentments among Paterson residents about negative perceptions of the city by outsiders.Kenneth McDaniel, a city councilman, said some online comments have “referenced lynching and other hideous and racially charged acts of violence against Paterson children. . . It’s the kind of speech we don’t need. It doesn’t help the situation,” he said.The prosecutor’s office announced the third-degree animal cruelty charges against the boys last week. Authorities also have said they are investigating whether to file complaints against other children.Meanwhile, two boys who intervened and tried to save the cat have been hailed as heroes and received donations of cash and gifts worth more than $6,000, according to animal advocates.Paterson Police Director Glenn Brown said organizers received permits for Thursday’s vigil, which is supposed to be held outside the city’s police headquarters on Broadway. Brown said officers from the department’s traffic unit and its emergency response team would be available to police the event.“I don’t expect we’ll have any issues,” Brown said. “This is America and you’re allowed to voice your opinion as long as you don’t break the law.”----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Source:Quattro, the cat, was beaten to death with bricks on May 7, 2014 by a group of grade school children. Grade school children brutally beat a stray cat with stones, bricks and sticks which caused him to die a week later, police said.Youngsters all under the age of 10 allegedly attacked the innocent feline near the School 4 playground in Paterson, New Jersey, on May 7. Suffering a broken leg and skull, and with one of its eyes destroyed, the savage assault on the kitty only ended when two older children stepped in and chased the gang away.We are heartbroken to say that Quattro was beaten so gravely that he succumbed to his injuries.