Monkeyfist.com

Act now to support jailed activists

Thursday, 03 August 2000

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A telephonic report and request by Kendall, who's doing jail support on the front:

About 500 people were arrested Tuesday, some for outright civil disobedience and others for fuzzier offenses such as making puppets and being in posession of duct tape.

Kendall wants local residents to call the mayor's office and/or police department to protest the treatment of these detainees.

Specifically:

No one has been allowed a phone call.
No one has been arraigned. (Late break: It seems that some folks have been processed, although jail solidarity activities continue. Bail for one sixteen year old kid was set at $50,000 (given the charges of (what Kendall can recall): conspiracy to commit a crime (he was traveling with his parents to block delegates), possession of the implements of crime (duct tape, chicken wire, and PVC pipe, oh, and a van that was impounded), and obstruction of a public thoroughfare).
No one has been officially admitted to the justice system; they're basically all in storage for the duration of the protests.
Some female detainees do not have access to appropriate bathroom facilities.
A group of transgender/queer rights folks are being held separately from the other detainees.
About 20 of the detainees are in need of medical care and are not getting it.
Defense attorneys attempting to cut deals without the permission of the protestors. (To combat that, several folks shed their clothing when taken to the courtroom.)

Note! Kendall has been unable to reach the contact person for one of the protestors. If you are or know the contact person for the woman who has the action name "Curry" be alerted/alert her that Curry is in jail. For further info, you should email me (Bijan at bparsia@email.unc.edu).

Looks like the Philadelphia Independant Media Center has near blow by blow accounts of what's up! Numbers to call are in the title-linked article, but what the heck, I'll list them here:

Chief Maxwell - Head of Detectives and Criminal Investigation 215-686-3362
Deputy Commissioner Mitchell - in charge of Demonstration 215-686-3364
Captain Fisher - Civil Affairs 215-685-3684
Mayor John Street 215-686-2181
Stephanie Franklin Suber - Mayor's Chief of Staff 215-686-7508
Ken Trujillo - City Solicitor 215-683-5003
Councilman Nutter 215-685-3416
Councilman Blackwell 215-685-3418

This is Act now to support jailed activists <http://monkeyfist.com/articles/615>