Milwaukee, WI – Following the not guilty verdict for George Zimmerman, who stalked and killed Trayvon Martin, emergency demonstrations started the night of Saturday, July 13 and went on into early Sunday morning.

Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds of people marched through the streets of downtown Minneapolis on May 31 to demand justice for Terrance “Mookie” Franklin, a 22-year-old African American man killed by the police in a South Minneapolis home on May 10.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from People's Organization For Progress (POP) chair Lawrence Hamm, from a May 10 Newark, New Jersey press conference.

Durban, South Africa – Protesters flocked to the U.S. consulate here, March 22, on the tenth anniversary of the abduction of Dr. Siddiqui and her three children in Karachi, Pakistan.

Fort Worth, TX – More than 40 protesters gathered at the Carswell federal prison, March 30, to demand freedom for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and the other women political prisoners held here.

We stand with Carol Gray, the mother of Kimani Gray, in demanding his murderers be taken off the streets of New York City before they take another young life. Police who murder need to be punished. A few weeks suspension is not enough. The murderers of Kimani Gray need to go to prison.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. The statement was delivered by Sue Udry, of Defending Dissent Foundation at a March 8 press conference, at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. The purpose of the press conference was urge support two women political prisoners, Dr. Aafia Siddiqui and attorney Lynne Stewart.

Salt Lake City, UT – Trayvon Martin's death sparked outrage and also a movement to combat the racism that led to his murder at the hands of George Zimmerman. On the one-year anniversary of his death, Utahans met as part of that movement to both mourn his passing and learn about racism, police brutality and how to fight them.

Gainesville, FL – The University of Florida (UF) chapters of Dream Defenders and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) hosted a speak-out on the one-year anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s murder, Feb. 26. Martin, a 17-year-old black youth, was shot dead on Feb. 26, 2012, in a racist attack by a neighborhood vigilante named George Zimmerman. Martin’s family created an online petition to arrest Zimmerman and it quickly grew into thousands protesting across the country. Six weeks passed before police arrested Zimmerman.

Santa Clara, CA – On Feb. 22, 200 people came to the Muslim Community Association (MCA) here to hear a panel on the fight against the World War II concentration camps for Japanese Americans and the fight to free the Holy Land Foundation 5. The program was organized by the Muslim Legal Fund of America and presented by the MCA Social Committee.

For several years, immigrant rights activists have said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is systematically carrying out mass deportations of immigrants who have done nothing wrong, resulting in well over 1 million deportations during the first four years of the Obama administration. This has caused the separation of untold thousands of families and the tearing apart of Chicano and Latino communities around the country – simply to fill arbitrary deportation quotas. ICE officials and the White House denied such allegations. On February 15, 2013, USA Today newspaper broke the story in a front page article based on newly released documents that verify what activists have been saying – that ICE has in fact been intentionally targetting 'low-priority' immigrants for mass deportations, through methods such as mass searches of drivers license databases and checkpoints set up near workplaces and neighborhoods thought to have many immigrant workers. One checkpoint referenced in the USA Today article was near Asheville, NC. Here Fight Back! News has an exclusive interview with Bobby Sullivan, who was stopped repeatedly at a checkpoint near Asheville, North Carolina – likely the same checkpoint referenced in the USA Today article. Woodfin, NC – Bobby Sullivan goes to work every day from his home near Asheville, NC. One day something strange started happening on his way to work: he kept getting stopped at a police checkpoint. What was going on? The police, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had set up an immigration checkpoint on a road near his home.

Los Angeles, CA – Alex Sanchez won a major victory against government repression, Dec. 17, when the U.S. Attorney main office dropped the outrageous conspiracy to murder and other charges.

Chicago, IL – On Oct. 25, wind gusts of over 30 miles an hour almost tore the banner from the hands of supporters of the Holy Land Five. 20 activists gathered for a lunch hour protest in front of the national headquarters of President Obama’s re-election campaign.

On July 30, Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño signed a highly controversial and sweeping new penal code into law that includes sharp restrictions on a broad range of civil liberties and rights. It’s slated to go into effect on September 1. A week after Fortuño signed it, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit to stop the new law, calling it unconstitutional. “The statute is evidently intended to suppress speech, to stop people from protesting against government policies,” William Ramirez, local ACLU director, said in the Washington Post.

Salt Lake City, UT – A dozen activists gathered at the Federal Building here, July 31, to demand the release of the Tinley Park 5. The Tinley Park 5 are anti-racist activists who were arrested and jailed after an alleged altercation with a white supremacy group, in Tinley Park – a suburb of Chicago.

Movement calls on Governor Luis Fortuño to veto it

On June 30 the Puerto Rican legislature approved a new Penal Code that includes sharp restrictions on a broad range of civil liberties and rights. Supporters of civil liberties refer to it as essentially a ‘wish list’ of many regressive laws the right wing has dreamed of passing. It now awaits either the approval or veto of Puerto Rican Governor Luis Fortuño, who is from the New Progressive Party (PNP) of Puerto Rico, and is also a member of the U.S.’s Republican Party.

Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration reported June 19 that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrived at its London Embassy and asked for asylum. Assange stated that with a, “regrettable factual statement of abandonment received by the authorities of my country, Australia, who state that they will not defend even my minimum guarantees before any government and delegate in the constitution of a foreign country that applies the death penalty for the crime of espionage and treason, and the guarantees it offers to its nationals, ignoring the obligation to protect its citizens, who is persecuted politically.

African American woman gets 20 years for firing warning shot to ward off abuser

Jacksonville, FL – On May 11, students from the civil rights group Dream Defenders protested at the sentencing hearing of Marissa Alexander, a young black woman who was convicted of aggravated assault stemming from an episode in 2010 where she fired a warning shot at her abusive ex-husband Rico Gray, who had previously beaten her.

Minneapolis, MN – After initially refusing a meeting, Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman agreed to meet with CeCe McDonald's family and supporters April 24. Hours before the meeting, Freeman's office issued a letter to McDonald's supporters defending his decision to charge her with two counts of second degree murder.

Minneapolis, MN – Supporters of Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald delivered a petition with over 12,000 signatures and a letter signed by 35 local, state and national organizations directly to Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman’s office April 17, demanding that he drop the two second-degree murder charges levied against McDonald. Family members had earlier requested a meeting with the County Attorney Freeman, but he refused to meet with them.