Zombies to Donate Thousands to RNC 8 and Scott DeMuth
Portion of Minneapolis Police Settlement to Go to Anarchists Facing Trial
Minneapolis, MN--The RNC 8 and Scott DeMuth, Twin Cities anarchist organizers facing trial this fall on politically motivated conspiracy charges, are receiving donations to their legal defense funds from an unlikely source--zombies who settled a lawsuit with the City of Minneapolis late last week.
The seven "zombie" street theatre performers split a $165,000 settlement with their lawyer stemming from police misconduct during their false arrests in 2006 [see http://tinyurl.com/strib-zombies ]. Members of the Zombie 7 have pledged at least $4,000 of their settlement to the legal defense of the RNC 8 and Scott DeMuth, another Minneapolis activist facing a politically-motivated conspiracy trial this fall.
The RNC 8 (rnc8.org ) were pre-emptively arrested before the 2008 RNC protests in St. Paul. Originally charged with terrorism (those charges under the MN PATRIOT Act have since been dropped), they now face felony conspiracy to riot and conspiracy to commit property damage, and go to trial October 25, 2010.
Scott DeMuth (davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com ) goes to trial in Davenport, Iowa on September 14, 2010, one of the few people charged under the new Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a law passed as part of the "Green Scare" criminalizing animal rights activism.
"The Zombie 7 were not slapped with criminal charges after being absurdly arrested for 'simulating weapons of mass destruction,'" said Raphi Rechitsky, one of the Zombie 7. "But countless others are prosecuted for their artistic and political expression, views, and associations, much like the RNC 8 and Scott DeMuth. They face not only jail time and exhausting legal proceedings, but also costly legal defense. My fellow zombies and I have come to understand that with a flip of a coin, we could have been the ones to face criminal charges on outrageous accusations of 'violence.'"
We've long suspected this, but police in the Twin Cities truly seem to have lost their braaaaaiiiinnnnss.
Edited by Dan Feidt - hongpong.com / youtube.com/hongpong
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Links:
rnc8.org
davenportgrandjury.wordpress.com
Support Other Targets of State Repression:
thejerichomovement.com criticalresistance.org
abcf.net