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Press Releases R2K LEGAL COLLECTIVE PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 23, 2000 CONTACT: Kris Hermes, R2K Legal Collective 215.925.6791 PRESSURE ON D.A. MOUNTS AS RNC TRIALS BEGIN: LOCAL AND NATIONAL LEADERS AND ORGANIZATIONS CALL ON ABRAHAM TO DROP ALL CHARGES Supporters will speak out and deliver letters condemning the prosecutions to the D.A.'s office on October 24th at 2:00 pm (Philadelphia, PA) On Tuesday, October 24 at 2 PM, representatives from local and national organizations will join clergy, labor, and legislators in delivering a clear message to Philadelphia's District Attorney, Lynne Abraham -- Stop wasting time and money on senseless prosecutions: Drop all charges against the Republican Convention protestors! After a 2 PM press conference outside the D.A.'s office (1421 Arch Street in downtown Philadelphia), a delegation will personally deliver to D.A. Abraham over 100 letters supporting the protesters and condemning the city for its assault on free speech. Trials for hundreds of RNC protesters will begin the following day, Oct. 25. In one of the letters addressed to Mayor Street and D.A. Abraham, members of U.S. Congress, concerned that the city's actions may chill political dissent, call for the immediate dropping of all charges. In a letter initiated by U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) addressed to Mayor Street and D.A. Abraham, a call is made to the City of Philadelphia urging an end to its campaign to punish non-violent, peaceful protest. McKinney is joined by U.S. Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, in this call to drop all charges. Local labor leaders, clergy, and over 80 local and national organizations will deliver the D.A. letters of their own, calling upon the city to drop all charges. Art Dougherty, President of the PA local of the American Postal Workers Union, says, "The police response to [Convention] protests was disproportionately harsh, and apparently aimed at preventing free expression." "The city already went way over-budget on the convention, and these ridiculous trials will add thousands if not millions of dollars to the cost of turning our city over to the Republicans," says Mark Rifkin, a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania who was arrested on August 1st and was in jail for 10 days. "The city needs to spend its money on real issues affordable housing, health care, and education not persecuting activists." During the Republic National Convention on August 1st of this year, several hundred activists were arrested for protesting, among other issues, the criminal justice system and the lack of public discussion of human rights abuses by the police and in U.S. prisons. Over 400 people, including bystanders, legal observers, and medics, were rounded up by the police and held for days on end, many waiting over 100 hours before being arraigned. All faced enormous bails, ranging from $10,000 to $1 million, and were jailed for up to 2 weeks. They will be brought to trial over the next few months. Many of those arrested are charged with multiple felonies, facing the possibility of decades in prison. The arrests were for acts of civil disobedience, which typically bring only summary charges. "This situation is unprecedented in this country's history," says Marina Sitrin of the R2K Legal Collective. "Never before has there been a concerted effort to convict hundreds of protestors on such numerous, severe, and trumped-up charges all for using time-honored tactics of civil disobedience to try to challenge and change the racism and classism of the criminal justice system." Prior to, during, and after the week of the Republican Convention, police used surveillance and infiltration, as well as targeting specific activists, in order preemptively to disrupt political organizing and to silence political dissent. On multiple occasions, the Philadelphia police claimed not to be involved in such covert activity, but investigative work by the Philadelphia Inquirer later showed that the police had indeed relied heavily on information gathered in this way. BACKGROUNDER TRIALS BEGIN WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH The first day of trials for hundreds of arrested activists is Wednesday, October 25th, 2000 at noon. Margaret Burns will be tried in Room 806 of the Criminal Justice Center (13th & Filbert Streets) as the first defendant to face multiple misdemeanor charges. She will be followed by a handful of other defendants scheduled for Thursday and Friday. The bulk of the group or consolidated trials will begin later in October and early November. Some of the scheduling depends on the conclusion of a series of motions being introduced by R2K lawyers this week. A motion for discovery, introduced last week by the R2K legal team forced the continuance of many trials due to the lack of preparedness on the part of the prosecution and the DA. This week arguments will be made on motions to suppress, selective prosecution, and destruction of exculpatory evidence. CLAIMS OF MULTIPLE CIVIL LIBERTY VIOLATIONS AGAINST ACTIVISTS: POLICE STAKED OUT, INFILTRATED ACTIVIST HOMES AND MEETINGS There is comprehensive proof that, prior to the actions, police surveilled activists' houses and meetings, infiltrated activist groups, and interrogated people about their plans for the Convention. However, because criminal cases are pending, much of this information cannot be discussed publicly. Acting on information obtained through illegal infiltration, police targeted specific activists for pre-emptive arrests. On August 1st, police surrounded a puppet-making warehouse and arrested everyone inside, altogether over 70 activists who had been making signs and puppets for the demonstrations. The message that would have been communicated, a First Amendment right, was confiscated and later destroyed by law enforcement. Protestors faced what may be the highest bails in history for misdemeanor charges. While a handful of people had bails as high as $500,000 and $1,000,000, the majority of bails ranged from $10,000 to $50,000 still outstandingly high for misdemeanor charges. Protestors also face multiple charges. Instead of the customary citation for blocking a highway, protestors are facing as many as twelve charges apiece, including conspiracy. Many charges are obviously false; for example, people arrested in the puppet warehouse are charged with obstructing a highway. Several dozen protestors, as well as bystanders, were singled out for felony charges, many for felony assault on police. Such charges can bring decades-long jail sentences. The vast majority of these charges, if not all of them, are trumped up efforts by police to cover up their own violent acts toward protestors. Activists who set out to protest the criminal justice system experienced first-hand some of the routine cruelty perpetrated by that system. Arrested protestors were denied food, water, and urgent medical needs. They were dragged, kicked, punched, and handcuffed so tightly as to cut off circulation. Some people were held for over 100 hours without being arraigned. WHY WERE ACTIVISTS ON THE STREETS AUGUST 1ST? The atrocities of the criminal justice system are numerous. People were on the streets August 1st in Philadelphia to call attention not only to the track record of Candidate Bush on issues like state sanctioned executions, but on a wide variety of dysfunction within a system that has not fared any better under Democrat or Republican leadership. The August 1st Coalition, a group of activists engaging in non-violent direct action, called for the following systemic changes: Freedom for Mumia Abu Jamal and all political prisoners; abolishment of the Prison Industrial Complex; abolishment of the death penalty; an end to police violence; and an end to the corporate war on the poor. Nearly two million people are incarcerated in the US. That's more than any other industrialized nation, and one quarter of the entire planet's prison population. In 1995, black men were seven times more likely than white men to be imprisoned, and still make up 47% of state and federal inmates. --030-- |
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