On Friday Jan 23rd at about 7:45 pm 3 Baltimore Animal Rights activists were arrested while legally and peacefully protesting Foie Gras at The Intercontinental Hotel's restaurant located in the Inner Harbor area. After about 30 minutes of protest that was legal and on public side walk area- Police came from all angles in an "ambush" method- waving their billy clubs and using verbal threats to make the activists leave. 2 activists who were peacefully asking why they had to leave were cuffed. Another protester who was just arriving on the scene was first threatened by police when they saw him taking pictures with his camera phone. He walked away as asked by police and when he asked for a badge number- he was arrested. This unbelievable display of injustice just adds to the already known corruption of the Baltimore City Police.

Please call central booking of Baltimore to request that these activists be released and that they get vegan food.

Please call and support:
~Erin Marcus
~Aaron Ross
~Adam Ortberg

Central booking Number: (410) 545-8120

Community organizers, faith leaders, union members and staff, and others met to plan B-MORE FAIR, a community-wide fair to celebrate our lives, our city and our way. The fair will be held on Saturday April 18 and will feature Baltimore's community organizations and people who are working to secure justice and human rights for all.

Baltimore's worker owned Bicycle Shop, the Baltimore Bicycle Works.

If you are a cyclist in Baltimore, then you must know about Baltimore's newest and only democratically owned bicycle shop. Only a few weeks old, the Baltimore Bicycle Works (BBW) is the newest edition to a city in dire need of pedaled transportation as well as worker ownership. Located at the trail-head of the Jones Falls trail on Falls rd. and Maryland Ave., it is the only bicycle shop that is in Mid-Town, making it it easily accessible. On top of that it is located in one of Baltimore's major transportation hubs. The Penn station, Charles and Saint Paul street, and the Jones Falls Expressway are all within spitting distance.

Watch the video: www.youtube.com/watch

On Wed., Dec. 10, 2008, a demonstration at the Bank of America (BOA) was held in downtown Baltimore, MD. It was led by activists from the All Peoples Congress, among other groups, [including the Baltimore IWW, the International Socialist Organization, and members of the newly formed Baltimore Economic Crisis Response Network -ed] . The purpose of the protest was to show solidarity with the 200 Sit-In Republic Windows and Door Workers of Chicago, Il, whose plant has been shut down. The BOA canceled the companys financing. Its action left the workers without any severance and vacation pay. Critics are insisting that the BOA should use some of the billions of dollars it received in a recent federal-taxpayers-funded bailout to help the workers. The BOA, in turn, blames the company for this situation. For background, see:

www.ueunion.org/uenewsupdates.html;
and
www.counterpunch.org/sustar12092008.html.

For continuing updates on the situation at Republic, see chicago.indymedia.org

After an animal rights protest with graphic images of force fed ducks calling for the boycott of 'SALT'-an upscale Baltimore restaurant serving 'foie gras', Baltimore cops handcuff a protester, and arrest a reporter filming the scene and an eye witness who protested their action…

On Tuesday, November 18th, four to five hundred union members and supporters rallied at Baltimore's City Hall. The crowd was peppered with bright red signs reading "Hotel Workers Rising - Lifting one another above the poverty line!" and union staff were collecting cans of food from dozens of people who had brought them to show solidarity with struggling workers at the Sheraton Baltimore City Center hotel.


Full article with more photos: | Video (Youtube) from William Hughes
Coverage from the Indyreader: Unite Here! Marches on the Sheraton Hotel – Ron Kipling Williams

BALTIMORE RISING TIDE:
Coal finance day of action
Join us as we mobilize to STOP foreclosure on the climate!!!

IT'S TIME WE STAND UP AND SAY DON'T FORECLOSE ON THE CLIMATE!!!
Please join us in Baltimore Rising Tide's first action where we will demand that the banks stop investing in coal and mountain top removal, destroying Appalachia and threatening the health of our communities.

WHERE: Bank of America and Citi Bank on the corner of East Baltimore St. and Calvert St. (Near the Charles Center Metro Station)

WHEN: November 14th, 11am to 1pm