Minneapolis, MN – Members and supporters of the Minnesota Committee to Stop FBI Repression participated in the Heart of the Beast Annual Mayday Parade and festival, receiving an enthusiastic response. Committee members carried a giant puppet of an FBI agent and dressed as witches, symbolizing the FBI and grand jury witch hunt that is being waged against anti-war and international solidarity activists. The parade is a longstanding community event.

Anh Pham, who helped to organize the Committee’s participation, said, “People cheered for the witches and shouted ‘Boo!’ at the FBI agent puppet. Mothers in the crowd were explaining to their children that the scary ‘agent’ was chasing after the nice peace activist and they were right to be afraid of the puppet. I felt like our message got across. People were really enthusiastic about our puppet and we will probably take him out for other summer festivals.”

Pham continued, “I was also really pleased when I spoke to former city council member from the Green Party, Dean Zimmerman, and U.S. Representative Keith Ellison before the parade and both signed the pledge to support us. Keith also signed a petition to the Minneapolis City Council that asked the city council to ask our representatives to speak out on our behalf. I hope more of our Minnesota congress people follow Keith's lead and write letters to Attorney General Holder or President Obama.”

Activists passed out more than 9000 flyers about the case and more than 150 people signed the [pledge against FBI and grand jury repression]( http://www.stopfbi.net/get-involved/pledge-of-resistance). The pledge is a commitment to take action if activists are compelled to appear in front of the Chicago grand jury headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, or in the event of indictments.

On Sept. 24, 2010, the FBI raided the homes of anti-war activists and international solidarity activists in Chicago and Minneapolis. To date, 23 activists have received subpoenas to appear in front of the Chicago grand jury. All of the activists have made it clear that they will not cooperate with this political witch hunt. For its part, the U.S. Attorney’s office has made it clear that it wants to indict the activists.

In cities around the U.S., members of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression participated in May Day events.

#MinneapolisMN #FBI #September24FBIRaids #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #RepKeithEllison