Appleton, WI – On Saturday, September 23, students, faculty, and other members of the Fox Valley community gathered at Lawrence University’s Warch Cinema in defense of the Tampa 5. In their second stop on their national tour, Lauren Pineiro and Chrisley Carpio of the Tampa 5 spoke to the LU community. Opening with chants of ‘drop the charges now!’ and ‘fight back!’, the Tampa 5 representatives spoke in detail of their case and its repercussions to the group of 35 people. For some, it was their first time hearing of the infuriating case, where the five protesters are facing five to ten years in prison on false charges.

Chrisley Carpio, Laura Rodriguez, Lauren Pineiro, Gia Davila, and Jeanie Kida were all charged with battery of a law enforcement officer, disrupting campus function, and resisting arrest. In reality, they were arrested for protesting against DeSantis’ House Bill 999 which will ban ethnic studies, women, and gender studies, cultural groups, and programs as well as take away rights to tenure for faculty.

Despite all the video evidence to show the contrary, the Florida state attorney has charged the five activists. As Carpio and Pineiro explained, USF also sided with the police, showing how despite the claims of being apolitical, universities eventually show their political nature and their politically repressive nature when it comes to shutting down progressive movements. The state attorney attempted to make the Tampa 5 sign letters of apology and admission of guilt to the charges to the same police officers that had brutalized, groped, and pinned the phony charges on them in the first place.

In response to the ridiculous proposition, Chrisley proudly proclaimed, “We said hell no! We will not sell out the movement!”

The Tampa 5 proved they were not to be intimidated. They have not backed down despite the case has affected all aspects of their lives – from the firing of university employee, Carpio, to the threatened expulsion of the students, being told to not speak to the media, and as Pineiro said, “These attacks should be seen for what they are: acts of political repression.”

“Regardless of whatever charges the state makes up, despite claiming to no longer run counter-intelligence programs, and no matter how many times we are lied to in our faces, the Tampa 5, SDS, and all people with a recollection of recent history won’t be fooled – the state cannot be trusted. We must reject the narrative of USF, the police, and the Florida state attorney, side with and defend the Tampa 5. Protesting is not a crime, protesting is a right that no amount of attacks from reactionaries and their police lackeys will be able to stop. The Tampa 5 remind us that protest scares the ruling class,” said Audari Tamayo, a leader with the LU chapter of SDS.

Tamayo continued, “Accordingly, the ruling class has retaliated, but we will not back down! DeSantis and his reactionary cronies are rewriting history, banning hard-fought for programs like ethnic, women, and gender studies, cultural programs, and attacking unions. This cannot go on without a fight. To close off, Carpio started to chant, “Drop the charges now! If we don’t get it, shut it down!”. But these aren’t just words, SDS and numerous other progressive organizations and individuals around the country remain committed to defending the Tampa 5 by any means necessary! Drop the charges now! Protesting is not a crime!”

Learn more about the Tampa 5 and how you can support them at defendthetampa5.org

#AppletonWI #Tampa5 #DeSantis #SDS #PoliticalRepression #RightToProtest #StudentMovement

“This settlement marks an end to the lawsuits filed by people arrested or harassed during the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh,” said Reggie Shuford, executive director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “We hope that it serves as a lesson to Pittsburgh and other cities about the importance of respecting demonstrators’ First Amendment rights.”

The lawsuit stemmed from the actions of police during the last day of the G-20 Summit on Sept. 25, 2009. That evening, Pittsburgh deployed hundreds of police officers to Schenley Plaza, a public park in the middle of the University of Pittsburgh campus, after learning of plans for a demonstration in the plaza to protest the police's use of arrests, tear gas and rubber bullets in Oakland the night before. Without justification, the police ordered people assembled on the plaza to disperse and then funneled them onto the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning, where police surrounded about 100 people and then arrested them for failure to disperse and for disorderly conduct. Others were arrested for failure to disperse even though they were blocks away from the plaza.

The ACLU-PA filed suit on behalf of 25 people arrested that night, including 14 students from the University of Pittsburgh and nearby Carnegie Mellon University, claiming that the police violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful arrest.

“I hope that this settlement will at the very least show authorities across the U.S. that they cannot violate the First Amendment rights of their citizens,” said Plaintiff Galen Armstrong, who traveled to Pittsburgh from Chicago to participate in G-20 demonstrations.

Plaintiff Melissa Hill traveled to Pittsburgh from Minneapolis to document the G-20 demonstrations for Twin Cities Indymedia. She was arrested on the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning after being trapped by police lines. Her video camera, which was confiscated by police during her arrest, was later returned to her, broken and without the memory card.

“With this settlement, I will now be able to move forward after the traumatic events of that evening that resulted in the destruction of my video camera,” Hill said. “I hope that this settlement sends the message that there are consequences when a city uses police state tactics that I hope to never witness again.”

#PittsburghPA #PoliceBrutality #G20 #ACLU #rightToProtest

This law makes trespassing, actions in or near restricted areas that would “disrupt the orderly conduct of Government” and blocking entrances to the restricted areas federal crimes. The restricted areas include locations under Secret Service protection including “(1) the White House or its grounds of the Vice President’s official residence or its grounds, (2) a building or grounds where the President or other person protected by the Secret Service is or will be temporarily visiting, or (3) a building or grounds so restricted due to a special event of national significance.”

Under the anti-Occupy bill one must act “knowingly,” not “willfully and knowingly” which was the previous language. This new wording means one would need to know that they were entering a restricted area but not necessarily know their actions would constitute a crime.

The American Civil Liberties Union explained the potential impact of this new law, “H.R. 347 did make one noteworthy change, which may make it easier for the Secret Service to overuse or misuse the statute to arrest lawful protesters.”

Meredith Aby, an activist with the Minnesota Anti-War Committee and who helped organize the 2008 March on the RNC, responded to the passage of the law. “The classification of National Special Security Events and the criminalization of protests at these events is unfortunately nothing new. The federal government has used this designation since the Clinton administration as a way to make national political conventions, like the DNC and the RNC, and events like the G-8 and WTO insulated from justified public protest and outrage.”

Aby continued, “Regardless of how the federal government uses their rule book to favor the 1%, people in this country are fed up and want real change. Tens of thousands of people came out to say no to the war on Iraq in Saint Paul in 2008, despite the multitude of barriers to protest that the federal, state and local governments put up. Similarly tens of thousands will come out this May to protest the NATO summit in Chicago despite this law and Mayor Emmanuel’s attempts to criminalize protests. The 99% want money for human needs not war and will take to the streets in Chicago to have their voices heard.”

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #civilLiberties #CivilRights #OccupyWallStreet #rightToProtest #FederalRestrictedBuildingAndGroundsImprovementActOf2011 #HR347

Jim Fennerty: On March 20, 2003 almost 800 anti-war protesters were arrested on Chicago Avenue in Chicago. Prior to the arrest between 10 and15,000 anti-war protesters who were protesting the start of the Iraq war were escorted by the Chicago Police as they marched from Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago over to Lake Shore Drive where they proceeded to walk north on Lake Shore Drive and then exited on Oak Street.

When the protesters exited on Oak Street they were met by a line of police at Michigan Avenue and were not allowed to cross Michigan Avenue or march down Michigan Avenue and return to Federal Plaza. After waiting over an hour the police told some marchers that they could go back the way they came. Others in the march, who could not hear the police, on their own started marching back to Inner Lake Shore Drive and eventually on to Chicago Avenue after being allowed by the police. The marchers again marched to Michigan Avenue where they were met by another police line preventing them from crossing Michigan Avenue or marching down Michigan Avenue and back to Federal Plaza.

On Chicago Avenue the protesters were surrounded by the Chicago Police and detained up to three hours. In the detained crowd, besides protesters, there were joggers, people who just got off the bus, workers who just got off of work and shoppers. The protesters were peaceful and some were chanting that they just wanted to go home. None of the people detained were ever given orders by the police to disperse or an opportunity to leave.

Eventually the police started to arrest people and to put them into police wagons or buses. Hundreds were taken to jail where many were charged with misdemeanors and had to attend court. Hundreds of people taken to jail were released, some spending 40 hours in jail because they could not be identified by a police officer that they were at Chicago and Michigan Avenues. Several hundred others were detained on the street up to three hours before being released.

The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild called for volunteers to represent everyone who was charged with a crime. After several appearances in court all the people who the Guild attorneys represented had their charges dismissed.

At the same time several of these same Guild attorneys filed a class action law suit challenging the unconstitutional arrest of the people who were arrested or detained on Chicago Avenue. After almost nine years of litigation where over 100 people were deposed, the City of Chicago decided to settle the class action on the eve of trial for $6.2 million.

Fight Back!: Why did the city settle?

Fennerty: Because they knew that they were going to lose big time at trial. Two years earlier a federal judge agreed with the city that the police were immune from suit because the law was not established in this federal district that before you could arrest non-violent protesters you had to give them an order to disperse and an opportunity to leave. Also the judge held that the protesters could be arrested because they were marching without a permit.

On appeal to the 7th Circuit the court reversed the district court judge and held that the law was that protesters could not be rounded up and arrested without giving them a notice to disperse, which all could hear, and an opportunity to leave. The court also held that since the protest was a spontaneous demonstration, they could march without a permit.

Also the police defended the case on their statements that the protesters were violent, destroyed property and were charging the police lines. Nothing could be further from the truth. The police videos showed peaceful demonstrators who, when they got to Chicago Avenue just wanted to go home.

Fight Back!: Does this impact on the plans for the May 19 march against the NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda and other protests during the NATO/G8 summits?

Fennerty: Already the City has stated that they have changed their procedures for mass arrests. Recently during the arrest of Occupy Chicago the police have given individual orders to disperse and opportunity to leave before making arrests. Will this mean that during the NATO/G8 protests the Chicago Police will follow the constitution remains to be seen.

Note: the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) won permits from the City of Chicago to rally in Daley Plaza and march to McCormick Place. While the Secret Service is threatening to revoke the permits in service of the National Special Security Event, CANG8 is determined to go forward with a family friendly, permitted march on May 19. CANG8 continues to demand that Mayor Emanuel stop vilifying protesters as violent; that Police Superintendent McCarthy stop threatening protesters with mass arrests and that the Obama administration and Homeland Security Director Napolitano, who is over Secret Service, respect the permits granted by the City of Chicago.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #NationalLawyersGuild #MayorRahmEmmanuel #rightToProtest #NATOG8Summit

Chicago, IL – Over 50 people gathered in City Hall, Jan. 17, to speak out against plans by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to restrict the right to protest. They held a press conference, and then proceeded to pack into two consecutive hearings held by City Council committees.

CANG8 (Coalition Against NATO/G8 War and Poverty Agenda) called the press conference. It bought togather union officials, community activists, faith leaders, anti-war activists and members of Occupy Chicago. CANG8 and Occupy Chicago called for people to stop what Occupy folks termed the “Sit Down and Shut Up” ordinance.

The headline-grabbing restrictions in the ordinance included greatly increased fines for those arrested in protests. (Charges of “Resisting or Interfering with a Police Officer” are among the most common in arrests during protests. In Chicago, “going limp” is considered resisting arrest.) Fines were to be increased from $25 to $200 at a minimum and doubling of the maximum fine to $1,000. Also, the fines for violations during a permitted march would be increased by a multiple of 20, from $50 to $1000.

The ordinances also said that organizers would be required to provide the city with “a description of any recording equipment, sound amplification equipment, banners, signs, or other attention-getting devices to be used in connection with the parade” at least a week in advance of the any march. Plus activists would have to guarantee one parade marshal for every 100 participants, and officials wanted to decrease the amount of time from two hours fifteen minutes to two hours that a march could be in the street.

Why these restrictions now?

Mayor Emanuel is trying to deter protest against NATO and the G8. He is also trying to clamp down on the Occupy Chicago movement that emerged this fall. Since the announcement of the NATO/G8 summits, there has been an intimidating, well publicized build up for heavy handed policing; a campaign to demonize those who might protest, both in the press with the story line that “protests lead to violence,” but also through presentations of “security assessments,” warning of the same thing in private meetings with schools, churches and cultural agencies in the downtown area; an effort at the same time to obstruct permits for rallies/marches; and finally ordinance changes that both further the intimidation of potential protestors and place greater restrictions on those planning permitted assemblies.

Response to Public Opinion

Emanuel’s move to restrict the right to protest caused a fire storm of civil liberties complaints. When his ordinances were first introduced one month ago, city council leaders were said to be in the “yes” camp, supporting the mayor. But CANG8 stood against it, and prominent civil liberties voices were raised. Occupy Chicago, the Teachers Union and SEIU joined in; and then an outpouring of grass roots folks gave the city council the courage to take a stand against these restrictions of constitutional rights.

In the middle of this debate, the City of Chicago granted permits to CANG8 for a family friendly rally and march on May 19. Mayor Emanuel responded to public opinion, which clearly supported the right to protest against NATO’s wars and the poverty that the G8 is pushing onto working people through its cutbacks.

In response to the pressure, the most egregious of the restrictions were reduced: increased fines for arrests in protests were dropped; the fines for march permit violations were reduced from$1000 each to $200 each; the requirement for one marshall for every 100 marchers was dropped; the requirement for amplification was reduced to informing them of any equipment too large to be carried by an individual; and the time limit for marches was left at two hours and fifteen minutes. The revised ordinance language has dropped the requirement that those applying for parade permits during the summits provide detailed information about the signs they planned to carry.

Any restriction on the right to protest is wrong

Organizers with CANG8, Occupy Chicago and organized labor are still urging members of the council to look at the intent, and think about the context: Mayor Emanuel invited the bankers and the generals here before Tahrir Square; before the protests in Madison, Wisconsin; and before Occupy Wall Street. He wants to deter protest in Chicago. The Emanuel administration has engaged in a campaign of vilification: “protests lead to violence” is how it is expressed. The superintendent of police and the mayor have threatened mass arrests from the moment CANG8 stepped forward to talk about a family friendly protest.

The mayor looks at the new Chicago he has inherited, with protestors in so many places, and he wants to put the genie back in the bottle. It’s not possible.

Any restriction on democratic rights is wrong. The city should not restrict its majority—workers, students, low income folks—as they find their voices. The city has voted in the past against war. Most people in Chicago are against the agenda of the NATO and G8 summits. Protestors have a right to deliver the message: “Jobs, Housing, Healthcare, Education, the Environment, our Pensions: Not War.” At the NATO / G8 summit.

On Wednesday, activists will pack the city council chambers during the vote on the ordinance changes.

The ordinances still quadruple the minimum fine from $50 to $200 for any violations of the parade permit; they give Chicago Police Superintendent McCarthy the power to hire private security companies to video protests, forging agreements with “public or private entities concerning placement, installation, maintenance or use of video, audio telecommunications, or other similar equipment. McCarthy is still allowed to deputize out-of-state law enforcement personnel during the summits. Protestors are still required to provide the city a description of large signs.

#ChicagoIL #civilLiberties #OccupyChicago #MayorRahmEmmanuel #CANG8 #NATOG8Summit2012 #rightToProtest