After reviewing YouTube video of the May Day riot, King County prosecutors dismissed all charges against a protestor accused of punching a bike cop.
Maria Jannett Morales, 30, was charged with assault in the fourth degree, a felony, for an incident that occurred near the intersection of First Avenue and Pike Street a few minutes before 6 p.m. on May 1, just as the day's rioting was starting to simmer down.
According to a probable cause statement statement submitted to prosecutors by Seattle police, bike cop Sonya Fry was ordering a crowd to move back when Morales walked up, said "okay bitch," and punched the female officer in the chest with a closed fist. Morales then allegedly kicked another cop in the leg.
SPD's version of events was called into question by amateur video from the scene uploaded to YouTube. The footage seems to show Morales walking past Fry, obeying orders. Then, after a brief verbal exchange, Fry grabs Morales by the shoulders and hair and pulls her down.On August 17, the charge was abruptly dropped. Dan Donahoe, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, says the video was a factor.
"We reviewed video of the alleged incident and felt that we could no longer prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt so the charge was dismissed," Donohoe says.
Aaron Pelley, Morales' attorney, says prosecutors had no business filing charges in the first place.
"Maria didn't really hit that officer," Pelley says. "There's nothing in my mind that thinks somebody didn't yell at that officer, or she didn't feel somebody hit her. But as far as I can tell, it wasn't my client."
Morales has no criminal record aside from a few traffic tickets. Nevertheless, Pelley says she lost her job as an emergency room technician in Bellevue because of the arrest.
"I don't know that she comes out ahead on all of this," Pelley says. "But we're certainly glad the prosecutors looked at the evidence and decided to dismiss."
Two others have pleaded guilty. Robert Ditrani pleaded guilty on June 22 to disorderly conduct. He was sentenced July 6 and received a 90-day suspended sentence and 12 months of probation. Paul Campiche pleaded guilty on August 22 to attempted assault in the third degree. He will be sentenced October 5.
See an extended cut of the YouTube video that shows Morales arrest, and court documents associated with her case on the following page. Maria Morales Order of Dismissal Maria Jannett Morales Charges This post was updated Monday, August 27, at 1 p.m. The original version mistakenly reported that Morales was charged with third-degree assault, disorderly conduct, and rioting. Her charge was actually fourth-degree assault.
Explosive new allegations have emerged that the man who gave the Black Panther Party some of its first firearms and weapons training was an undercover FBI informant in California. Richard Aoki, who died in 2009, was an early member of the Panthers and the only Asian American to have a formal position in the group. The claim that Aoki informed on his colleagues is based on statements made by a former bureau agent and an FBI report obtained by investigative journalist Seth Rosenfeld, author of the new book, "Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals, and Reagan’s Rise to Power." But Aoki’s friends and colleagues, as well as scholars, have challenged the book’s findings. We speak to Rosenfeld, an award-winning journalist and author of the article, "Man Who Armed Black Panthers was FBI Informant, Records Show," published by the Center for Investigative Reporting, and to Diana Fujino, Aoki’s biographer and a professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. [includes rush transcript]
Guests:
Seth Rosenfeld, author of the new book, Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals,and Reagan’s Rise to Power. Rosenfeld was an award-winning a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner and San Francisco Chronicle for almost 25 years.
Diane Fujino, professor and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her most recent book is Samurai Among Panthers: Richard Aoki on Race, Resistance, and a Paradoxical Life.
August 21st marks the 41th anniversary of the execution of George Lester
Jackson. The Chicago- born Jackson would have celebrated his 71th
birthday on September 23rd.
Jackson was a prisoner who became an author, a member of the Black
Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family prison
organization. He achieved global fame as one of the Soledad Brothers
before being executed by prison guards in San Quentin Prison.
Based on an edited portion of Prisons on Fire by the Freedom Archives
(2001) with video editing by Oriana Bolden.
You can watch it here:
http://vimeo.com/27870164
George Jackson
This moving video was made by Jihane Al Quds. It is an invitation for you to
join us at Al-Awda's 10th Annual International Convention in San Diego
September 7-9, 2012. The video is short and to the point. The music is by Le
Trio Joubran.
For the commemoration of the Palestinian refugees and their right to return to their homeland, join us for the 10th annual international Al-Awda convention in San Diego, CA.
Special guest: Marcel Khalife
(This is a partial English translation of a program, aired in Dozhd TV channel 17th of August, which is embedded below.)
Center of Counteraction Against Extremism ("E-Center") in the city of Vladimir did not liked amateur movie "Russian anti-racist skinheads", and they opened a criminal case against makers of the film. According to them, film incited hatred against "social group of skinheads and nationalists". Ilya Vasyunin: Movie was first screened one year ago. I was in one of the secret screenings in Moscow. It is dangerous to publicly screen such movies, as such an event may be attacked by "social group of nationalists".
Film includes cuts from concerts of anti-fascist bands and interviews of such bands, from Russia and other countries of former Soviet Union.
Author visited several cities and screened the film, and in one of these cities, in Vladimir, he was detained. This happened one week ago, and soon he learned, that a criminal case has been opened against him.
Andrei Ivanov, author of the film: I came to the city of Vladimir, and I was arrested by E-Center officials. First they made drug tests, which did not revealed anything, alcometer also showed zero intoxication. I was detained and I spent in a police station all night, next day I was transferred to prosecution administration of the Vladimir region.
Movie does not include any calls - its purpose is just to show existence of such a subculture.
Sidorkina, lawyer of Ivanov: According to the prosecution, "Ivanov on purpose, with a goal of inciting hate or animosity according to membership in a social group of "skinheads", with nationalistic ideas, made a public movie screening of video "Russian anti-racist skinheads". Currently in all major cities, such as Nizhni Novgorod and Moscow, criminal cases are opened against Antifa.
Ilya Vasunin: This is not the first time, when statute 282 of the Russian criminal codex ("inciting hate against a group") is used against anti-
fascists. But this far no anti-fascists have been sentenced according to the statute, so it remains to be seen, how the case will stand on court.
August 21st marks the 41st anniversary of the execution of George Lester
Jackson. The Chicago- born Jackson would have celebrated his 71st
birthday on September 23rd.
Jackson was a prisoner who became an author, a member of the Black
Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family prison
organization. He achieved global fame as one of the Soledad Brothers
before being executed by prison guards in San Quentin Prison.
Based on an edited portion of Prisons on Fire by the Freedom Archives
(2001) with video editing by Oriana Bolden.
You can watch it here:
http://vimeo.com/27870164
George Jackson
A community meeting regarding the arrests, brutality, and next steps took place at the Flying Squirrel Community Space at 2pm. See some of the main points.
Update: Tonight, July 21, 2012, at around 8:00pm an anti-capitalist march was quickly and brutally stopped by the Rochester Police Department. According to the D&C, 18 people were arrested. Police put the protest at 150 people (marchers said 75) marching west bound on East Ave. in two lanes of traffic after snaking through downtown Rochester. When march goers got to East Ave. and Union, police were waiting. People moved to the sidewalk. There was no order to disperse and no violence from marchers. Once there, police snatched and arrested marchers on the sidewalk with more than one witness stating they saw police spray chemical agent, at point blank range, in the eyes of handcuffed arrestees.
The event, listed on facebook, reads:
Of all the preventable ways we suffer, there is one common factor fueling them.
We will gather in common cause for a world which puts human need before profit.
We have enough food, enough houses, enough water, and enough electricity that these needs could be met.
We give ourselves permission to meet those needs with a new, non-capitalist system.
Because a better world IS possible.
And we are here to fight for for it and build this world! See you in the streets!
Those arrested and being held till Monday for arraignment due to lack of ID: Hamza Sinanaj of Utica, NY; Lisa Bozzino of Rochester, NY; Jack Hauck of Utica, NY; and Lynn Giglio of Rochester, NY.
Those arrested and have the ability to post bail but may not have yet are: Jake Roszak; Emily Good of Rochester, NY; Jose Verduzco of Buffalo, NY; Rick of Rochester, NY; Patrick Krebbeks; David Krause of Rochester, NY; Ed Lawton; Matt Richardson of Buffalo, NY; Samantha Colon of Buffalo, NY; Rob Krom of Syracuse, NY; Joe Day of Binghampton, NY; Ashley Messer of Rochester, NY; Jason Eldridge of Rochester, NY; and Ben Harrigan.
Evan Peacock, one of the marchers, writes:
I would like to take a moment to express my displeasure with the Rochester Police Department for the unwarranted and brutal arrest of 18 protesters on fallacious charges, and would like to "cordially" invite all serving and retired members of said police force to eat a bag of dicks.
Zora Gussow, another marcher, writes:
there are Rochester Police Officers who, today, maliciously and unprovoked, attacked peaceful protesters with pepper spray. It was a violent attack and many people were sprayed in the eyes at close range. This absolutely can not be tolerated. We must stop these violent thugs!!
Shane Burley, yet another marcher, writes:
Rochester Police Department today attacked a stream of peaceful protesters with chemical weapons without provocation, arresting 18 people. Many of these people were attacked, thrown on the ground, peppersprayed when in handcuffs, and done so without being asked to comply with any requests. The given reasons for this were things like swearing, wearing a mask, walking next to the sidewalk, riding their bike, and being loud.
Tim Adams, who was also there, writes:
Saw a 100 lb. woman snatched from a crowd today, cuffed behind her back, and THEN maced from point blank in the eyes. She asked the man why he was doing this. His response: "you were swearing." Despicable.
Another witness, Nathaniel Wright, writes:
We were close to the front; there was no audible order for people to move to the sidewalk. However, we all moved onto the sidewalk before we that reached that sweet bacon-barricade (who were in fact the only people blocking traffic from that point on). There were chemical agents sprayed up and through the air over groups of peaceful citizens. These arrests of non-violent people were carried out with extreme violence including up to six officers at one time kneeling on and pepper-spraying compliant, non-resistant individuals. The only thing more disturbing than the mistrust of our paid "peace officers" was the grins on their faces while they were punching and dragging our friends away.
Currently, jail support needs around $1,200 to bail out the rest of the people that can get out tonight. Go down to the jail at 130 Plymouth Ave. and give your support.
The 18 have been charged with disorderly conduct and their arraignment is on Monday, July 23, at 9:30am in Rochester City Court.
JRozLive.com was livestreaming. Check out his video! JRozLive.com was arrested while livestreaming.
From Hamza Sinanaj (grabbed and arrested from behind with no warning):
Saturday 7/21: 15-20 arrests at the anti-capitalist march, while the march snaked through downtown. Arrestees included protesters from Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Buffalo. The march numbered around 75. Arrest happened on East ave, next to the innerloop. Jail support is happening now at the Rochester Police Department at 185 Exchange Blvd.
ANAHEIM — A police shooting that left a man dead led to a near-riot Saturday as angry witnesses threw bottles at officers who responded with tear gas and beanbag rounds.
The man was shot around 4 p.m. in front of an apartment complex on the 600 block of North Anna Drive following a foot chase, Anaheim Sgt. Bob Dunn said. He died three hours later at a hospital.
The Orange County Register cited family members and neighbors who said the man shot was Manuel Diaz. Dunn said he could not confirm the man’s name early Sunday.
His niece, 16-year-old Daisy Gonzalez, said her uncle likely ran away from officers when they approached him because of his past experience with law enforcement. “He (doesn’t) like cops. He never liked them because all they do is harass and arrest anyone,” Gonzalez said.
Residents, protesting what they say is an increased police violence against them in the community, started the near riot after the shooting on nearby La Palma.
Crystal Ventura, a 17-year-old who witnessed the shooting, told the Register the man had his back to the officer. She said the man was shot in the buttocks area. The man then went down on his knees, and she said he was struck by another bullet in the head. Another officer handcuffed the man who by then was on the ground and not moving, Ventura said.
“They searched his pockets, and there was a hole in his head, and I saw blood on his face,” she said.
Dunn said he could not comment on these allegations because the shooting is under investigation.
Jay Jackson, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, said Saturday night’s scene was chaotic.
The residents blocked off a street and set fire to at least one dumpster.
Earlier in the day, police in riot gear, fired rubber bullets into the crowd. Several protesters lifted their shirts to show large red welts on their torsos and backs.
Residents told Jackson that police overreacted and created the disturbance.
One man said, “They just started shooting.”
Police also set a K-9 officer on one woman and a bystander they said were agitating the situation.
Said Susan Lopez, “I had my baby with me. My baby! The dog scratched me and then grabbed me.” She added, “They shot at me while I was holding a baby!” Another woman yelled, “They just shot at us, they shot at a little kid, too.”
According to police, two patrol officers observed three male suspects in an alley.
Police said the suspects tried to flee on foot when a chase ensued.
The shooting reportedly occurred after one of the officers encountered one of the suspects in a courtyard.
No officers were injured.
The other two suspects are at-large.
Dunn said, “What exactly led to the shooting, we don’t know. We’re still investigating. But a shooting did occur. And the male was taken to a hospital.”
Authorities said the circumstances regarding the shooting were under investigation by members of the gangs unit and Orange County District Attorney’s office.
Four people told Jackson that police offered to buy their cell phone video.
A confrontation in downtown Los Angeles late Thursday between police and
Occupy L.A.protesters appeared to have stemmed from a sidewalk
chalk-drawing demonstration, witnesses said.
At least two officers were injured and several arrests had been made.
A woman who identified herself as part ofOccupy L.A. said protesters
attended the monthly L.A. ArtWalk on Thursday night with the intention of
showing support for people previously arrested for chalking on the
sidewalk. A Facebook event advertised the planned demonstration.
Discuss at 9 a.m. Friday: Skirmishes at L.A. ArtWalk
Some of the messages written at the intersection of Spring and 5th streets
included, "May the youth rise" and "End the Fed."
"We were handing out free chalk for freedom of speech," said Cheryl
Aichele, 34, a member of Occupy L.A.
Police arrived at the intersection shortly before 10 p.m. to move
protesters blocking the street. At one point, an unidentified man tossed a
glass bottle over his shoulder that landed in front of a line of LAPD
officers gathered on Spring Street between 4th and 5th streets. The man
was shot with what appeared to be a non-lethal weapon, witnesses said.
PHOTOS: The ArtWalk confrontation
Police used batons and non-lethal projectiles to disperse the crowd, which
in turn threw bottles and cans at officers and chanted, "Whose streets?
Our streets!"
Hundreds of officers in riot gear systematically moved the crowd away
block by block as people gathered in the windows of nearby apartments and
bars to watch and snap cellphone pictures. It took officers about two
hours to quell the protest.
"I came down for ArtWalk and it turned into this," said 25-year-old Susan
Enciso.
Palestinian footballer Mahmoud Sarsak was greeted joyously in Gaza today as he returned home from the Israeli prison where he was held for three years without charge or trial and without visits from his family. According to AP, Sarsak was taken to hospital in Gaza where, “he emerged from an ambulance and kissed his parents and siblings.”
Sarsak staged an epic three month hunger strike that brought him to the edge of death, which he ended last month after Israel met his demands and agreed to free him on this date.
In IBTimes video report shows many more images of Sarsak’s return home.
“Alive and victorious” – but other hunger strikers remain
Seventy-eight days into his hunger strike, Sarsak published a poignant “final distress call” along with fellow prisoner Akram Rikhawi. In an unforgettable sentence that spurred global action on the prisoners’ behalf, the men wrote:
there is still enough time and the support that comes late is better than that which does not come at all. It is better that you receive us alive and victorious rather than as lifeless bodies in black bags.
Today, Mahmoud Sarsak returned home alive and victorious to the joyous embrace of his mother. But Akram Rikhawi remains in Israeli jail in increasingly desperate conditions, along with at least two other hunger strikers.
Mahmoud Sarsak’s victory and return is a joyful and amazing achievement that deserves to be celebrated. But even as Sarsak’s release is celebrated, Rikhawi remains at risk of death.
*The Gentleman Bank Robber: The Life Story of Rita Bo Brown* will be a
short documentary film that tells the story of Bo Brown, a white
working-class Butch from rural Oregon and a member of the revolutionary George
Jackson Brigade <http://www.gjbip.org/>. The film is collaboration among
three friends and supporters of Bo who live in Portland, Oregon: Lydia
Bartholow, Erin McNamara, and Julie
Perini<http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6gertMOxX1rzrn6to1_1280.jpg>.
The people who make social movements happen and change the course of
history do not always have time to document their activities for the
benefit of future generations. Bo's life stories are too important to
leave untold: she participated in struggles for queer liberation in the
1960s and 1970s; she is a former social prisoner now organizing to support
other people in prison through her work at the Prison Activist Resource
Center in Oakland, California; and she was a member of the George Jackson
Brigade, a militant, revolutionary, prison abolitionist group based in
Seattle, Washington in the 1970s. As a member of the George Jackson
Brigade, Bo became known as “The Gentleman Bank Robber” for combining her
butch style of dress with a polite way of demanding funds from bank
tellers, one of the ways the Brigade funded its militant activities to
protest military aggression, injustice, and exploitation in the United
States and around the world. There is so much we can learn from people like
Bo: let's start learning now.
We are looking to fund our trip to Oakland this summer to interview Bo and
document her life, and to create a DVD to distribute the documentary.
Please join us in making this important project happen by donating to our
Kickstarter campaign online
here<http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1152227320/the-gentleman-bank-robber-the-life-story-of-rita-b>
. This may become part of a larger project about Bo and the George Jackson
Brigade, in which case we’ll look forward to your participation again. Due
to current health issues, Bo asks that questions about and support for the
project be directed to one of us working on the project - Lydia Bartholow,
Erin McNamara, and Julie Perini. You can reach us at the general email
address for the project, gentlemanbankrobber@gmail.com. Find out more
about the project at http://gentlemanbankrobber.tumblr.com/.
*All of your support counts and every contribution comes with a rad reward
like a copy of the DVD, a screenprinted T-shirt, books about the George
Jackson Brigade, and more. Thank you in advance!*
A Palestinian woman holds pictures of hunger strikers Mahmoud Sarsak and Akram Rikhawi during a demonstration in their support in the West Bank city of Nablus on 3 June 2012 (Nedal Eshtayah / APA images)
Palestinian prisoner Akram Rikhawi is gravely ill after 70 days of his ongoing hunger strike. Today, Addameer and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) warned in a joint statement that his life remains at imminent risk.
Calling for continued international solidarity actions, the groups demanded that Israel move him to a civilian hospital, end its policy of restricting visits by independent doctors, and lift its ban on family visits to hunger striking prisoners.
They also expressed concern for Samer Al-Barq, who is on his 31st day of renewed hunger strike today to protest his administrative detention without charge or trial.
The statement noted:
Addameer lawyer Mona Neddaf was able to visit [Rikhawi] yesterday in Ramleh prison medical clinic, though independent doctors from PHR-Israel are still being denied regular access to him since last visiting on 6 June.
Ms. Neddaf noted following her visit that Akram is extremely tired and weak and now weighs only 49 kilos. Furthermore, since 16 June he is refusing any vitamins and fluids through an IV. Though he is sustaining himself on water alone, Ms. Neddaf was troubled to observe that even drinking water is now very difficult for him and he is only able to consume approximately one liter per day.
Rikhawi, who suffers from chronic diabetes and asthma, was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to 9 years imprisonment by Israeli military courts. According to an earlier Addameer release:
Akram launched his hunger strike on 12 April, demanding that his medical condition be considered during the discussion of his request for an earlier release. Every prisoner is entitled to ask to be considered for an earlier release when he has served at least two thirds of his sentence.
Today, Addameer and PHR-Israel urged continued action on behalf of still hunger striking Palestinian prisoners:
Surely the increased action from individuals and institutions all over the world on behalf of Mahmoud Sarsak contributed to Israeli authorities’ acceptance of his demands, and it is therefore clear that urgent pressure is needed on behalf of Akram Rikhawi and Samer Al-Barq as well, before it is too late.
On Monday, Palestinian national footballer player Mahmoud Sarsak ended a three-month hunger strike that brought him to the edge of death, after Israel acceeded to his demands to free him on 10 July.
Dutch public figures play football for Palestinian prisoners
In a sign of the growing international support for the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle, a video released today features prominent Dutch public figures and children playing football. “In the video, people are seen wearing an orange t-shirt in the style of the Dutch national soccer team, with the number 90 – referring to the period of the hunger strike – and Mahmoud Al Sarsak’s name written on the back of it,” text accompanying the video explains.
From the press release accompanying the video:
Dutch politicians and other prominent citizens have participated in a video protesting against the ongoing Israeli practice of administrative detention of Palestinian civilians. In this short film by Dutch filmmaker Abdelkarim El-Fassi, former prime minister Dries van Agt and members of Dutch Parliament Harry van Bommel of the Socialist Party and Tofik Dibi of the Green Left, have expressed their dismay over this issue. They voiced serious concerns about the treatment of Mahmoud Al Sarsak, who recently became the longest hunger striker in history by refusing food for 93 days. He forced a deal on June 18th for his release from Israeli prison on July 10th, in exchange for ending his hunger strike.
After a long period of relative quiet, workers are again taking mass action in the Bangladeshi garment industry. Also; some comments on the recent wave of political 'disappearances'.
Since the deployment of the new Industrial Police Force (IPF) in 2010 struggles had been much reduced by the IP's innovative tactics(1). But recent events in Dhaka's industrial suburb of Ashulia and elsewhere suggest that workers' anger, solidarity, willingness to struggle and sheer weight of numbers can't be contained indefinitely.
Thursday, May 12th 2012, Ashulia, an industrial suburb of Dhaka; during the evening shift Salman, a store room worker at the Hameem Group factory, is reprimanded by a manager for using his mobile phone at work(2). The argument escalates into a physical fight. What happens next is unclear. According to police and management Salman was then taken to jail; it was reported matter-of-factly by several newspapers that;
But a different, even worse, version of events was soon to circulate amongst workers... Saturday morning, May 14th, Hameem Group factory; Workers arrive at the factory to begin work. Seeing that Salman is still absent and hearing of the incident on Thursday, rumours spread that Salman was tortured to death by the managers and his body hidden. The workers gather in the factory, demanding to know what has happened to Salman - the Industrial Police arrive and begin trying to disperse the workers. The workers resist the cops and intense fighting breaks out. A store room is set ablaze and sweater machines are vandalised. By 10am the clashes spill out onto the main Dhaka-Tangail highway where police make repeated baton charges and workers respond with volleys of bricks, burn tires and block traffic.
The Hameem Group workers call out workers from neighbouring factories to join them; soon thousands of workers are fighting with police. The cops fire rubber bullets and tear gas. In the chaos, there are chases and counter-chases - in a crowd running away from a police charge a female garment worker, Nahar, 30, is hit by a bus and killed.
Workers begin attacking garment factory buildings along the highway, damaging 50 properties. Over 50 vehicles, 12 belonging to the Hameem Group, are also damaged. Fearing a contagious effect, 300 local factories stop production and send workers home - losing millions in lost production and adding to the mass of workers on the streets.
A police constable has a rifle snatched from him by a group of workers. Several TV crews are attacked and their cameras smashed, probably partly in response to recent use of film footage to identify rioters. Clashes continued until 1.30pm, by which time the area is swamped by cops and the Rapid Action Batallion para-militaries.
Apart from the dead worker, over 100 people are injured, including around a dozen cops and six journalists. Management of the Hameem Group estimate damage to the factory and machinery at Tk 10 crore (over $1 million).
(Protest footage starts at around 1.02 secs)
Sunday morning, 15th May; workers begin work in the Hameem Group factory but, with still no visible sign of Salman the vanished worker, soon stop and leave the factory. Gathering on the highway at 9am, they again quickly bring out nearby factories; 50,000 workers converge on the street. Fighting begins on the road, workers set afire tires and logs, blocking traffic. Another 100 people are injured, including workers, journalists, pedestrians and two police constables. A hundred teargas shells and 1000 rubber bullets are fired. Hundreds of factories are again closed for the day.
In an attempt to calm the situation Hameem management and police bring a 'Salman' to the factory. But the workers claim "This Salman is not our Salman" and, unconvinced, the unrest continues into the afternoon.
Eventually Hameem management are able to convene a meeting with the workforce where a return to work is agreed. Six arrested workers are released by police and the real Salman is apparently produced to the workers' satisfaction. The police rifle snatched by workers the previous day is recovered, found hidden under a pile of firewood.
Monday morning, Narayanganj, 10 miles south-east of Dhaka; workers protesting the illegal summary sacking of several co-workers agitate stop work at the Sinha Textiles factory. Hundreds of workers barricade the local highway and fight pitched battles with cops for two hours. Several other factories are vandalised.
Tuesday morning, Narayanganj; Sinha Textiles workers find themselves locked out and the factory under "indefinite closure". Though such dismissal without any advance warning is illegal it is a frequent occurrence. At 9am, as hundreds of workers demonstrate and fight cops for an hour, several vehicles are vandalised and a bus is torched.
While fleeing from police baton charges, another young female worker, 22-year-old Sonia, is killed when hit by a bus. 30 people, including 10 cops, are injured.
The 18 month 'truce' as both sides adjusted to the tactics of the new Industrial Police Force is well and truly over. The IPF tactics may even begin to backfire now by provoking a possible escalation; as workers begin to appreciate that their own levels of organisation, co-ordination, tactics and numbers involved must be sufficient to combat the now-greater organisation of the cops.
Whichever of the two main parties are in power, every Bangladeshi parliamentary term of office tends to follow a predictable route, becoming ever more repressive. The present ruling Awami League's term is no different, though now somewhat worse than their recent predecessors, seemingly intent on crippling all organised opposition.
In the past two years there has been a wave of unexplained disappearances of dozens of political opposition figures. They have included local party activists of the Bangladeshi National Party(BNP), some more prominent BNP politicians and some student unionists. So far there only apparently been one disappearance due to activities related to labour struggles. Aminul Islam was a former garment worker; elected by workmates as a convenor on the Workers Representation and Welfare Committee at his workplace (the WRWC being the only form of minimal workforce representation allowed by bosses) he was sacked for his militancy. Helped with his legal case against his former employers by the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, a group that has argued for higher pay and better working conditions, he later became a union organiser for BCWS. The BCWS was active in the 2010 campaign for a minimum wage - since then its leading activists have suffered harassment, arrest, torture and legal frame-ups. Mr Islam was previously arrested by the security services in 2010 and tortured.
He was last seen alive in April 2012 in the industrial area of Ashulia, outside the BCWS offices, where the premises appeared to be under police surveillance. Receiving a phone call from a worker requesting help, he left home but never arrived at the agreed meeting place. His family filed a missing person report with police. Two days later his tortured body was found dumped by a roadside 100 kilometres away. The local police buried his remains as unclaimed and of unknown identity, but also had pictures of the corpse published in the press. These were seen by his friends and relatives, leading to the body being exhumed and positively identified. Signs of torture were obvious on Aminul Islam's body, with numerous wounds, bruises and broken bones.(3)
Whatever the routine official denials, nobody is under any illusions as to the state security services' role in these murders. While militant workers, rank'n'file labour activists and unionists have suffered harassment, arrest and torture, for the moment, at least, most disappearances continue to be of political activists related to the BNP;
Since the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, there have been closed to 30 Black or Brown people shot and killed by law enforcement or in the case of Trayvon, wannabe law enforcement. Many of these shootings have been highly questionable, meaning the person killed was unarmed or there are strong conflicting statements from either the police or witnesses.
Here in Oakland, California, the shooting death Alan Dwayne Blueford is one such killing. Oakland police have been very shady with the stories they put forth to the public. It seems like a deliberate attempt to muddy the waters, cast seeds of doubt and cover up their own mistakes.. Initially police said they were in a shoot out and Blueford shot the officer in the stomach.. Later the police said Blueford shot the officer in the leg..Next the police said that it was possible the officer was shot in the leg by another officer in a case of friendly fire..Finally it came out that the officer shot himself. He shot himself in the foot..
Many believe the officer shot himself after he killed Blueford and saw the young man was unarmed.. The police then double back and said a gun was recovered, the community has yet to see any evidence of finger prints , gun residue etc.. Many have concluded it was the officer planting a gun near the scene.. This would not be unsual in a city that in the past 10 years has had to shell out over 58 million dollars in wrongful death shootings and police brutality incidents. This would not be far-fetched in a city that was home to a rogue group of cops known as the Riders who were found to routinely plant drugs and guns on suspects. One of the Oakland Riders is a still a fugitive at large..
Adding to all this was the fact that Blueford was left to on the ground for 4 hours to die while the officer who lied and then finally admitted to shooting himself was treated. The public still does not know the name of the officer thanks to California’s Policeman’s Bill of Rights which prevents the public from knowing the name of officers involved in these and other brutality incidents.. Community investigators have revealed the officer who murdered Blueford is Miguel Masso a former military man who lives in Los Banos which is more than 100 miles outside of Oakland..
Blueford’s parents were not aware of their son’s death for more than 6 hours. They went down to the police station were treated like crap and not told for more than 2 hours. Their mistreatment led to the unusual move by Chief Howard Jordan to meet and apologize to the family.
In an attempt to do more damage control, OPD held a town hall meeting at Acts Full Gospel Church. Folks showed up only to discover the police chief would only answer questions that were pre-written. This annoyed folks to no end.. Then he seemed ill prepared or unable to answer basic questions.. He also hawked what many saw as blatant lies.. This led to more than half the room turning their backs on the chief and throwing up fist..
The chief cut the meeting short and left the building with angry residents in tow.. They got at him and let him know that there needs to be accountability and the community would not stand for his lies..The chief was definitely embarrassed.. Later that night we learned Oakland police came after one of the community members shown in the video holding a bullhorn..Chris M They claimed he assaulted an officer at the church… If that was the case when and where did that happen and why not arrest him on the spot?
Here’s a video of last night’s Townhall Meeting and dispersal..Please note I’m trying to re-render this so the quality is better… * quick note.. here’s the better quality video.. of last nights confrontation
In a Democracy Now! exclusive, Mumia Abu-Jamal phones in from the SCI Mahanoy prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania, where he is being held in general population after nearly 30 years on death row. Although he now lives in a bigger cell than what he calls the "small dog cage" of the last three decades, Mumia says his life sentence is akin to "a slow death row. It’s bigger in terms of the time differential, but it’s slow death row, to be sure." After having his death sentence overturned in late 2011, Abu-Jamal says he is determined to win his release from prison over allegations of racial bias and judicial misconduct in his conviction. "We want freedom," he says of the movement calling for his release. Supporters have long argued racism by the trial judge and prosecutors led to Abu-Jamal’s conviction. He notes that during his trial a court reporter overheard the judge in his case, Judge Albert F. Sabo, say in his chambers, "I’m going to help them fry the nigger." "This was heard by a court reporter—a member of the court staff, a court employee, and a person that is perhaps the best listener you could ever have for any conversation, because that’s her job," Abu-Jamal says. "We didn’t know about it until years later, but when we put this into our papers, our filings, it has been essentially ignored by every court it’s come in front of. How is that possible? And so, I mean, that’s certainly one indication, as you can see, one example of an unfair system." [includes rush transcript]
Mumia Abu-Jamal, former death row prisoner. For decades, Abu-Jamal has argued racism by the trial judge and prosecutors led to his conviction for the killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. Last year, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set aside his death sentence after finding jurors were given confusing instructions that encouraged them to choose the death penalty rather than a life sentence.
RT has become the first TV channel in the world to speak to former journalist and Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal since he was removed from death row in January. Abu-Jamal will spend his life behind bars for killing a police officer in 1981.
Considered by many to be a flagrant miscarriage of justice, the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal has gained much attention worldwide. The defense claimed Abu-Jamal is innocent of the charges as the testimony of the prosecution's witnesses was not reliable. For decades, supporters have rallied behind him.
After spending almost 30 years on death row, Abu-Jamal told RT’s Anastasia Churkina that “The truth is I spent most of my living years in my lifetime, on death row. So, in many ways, even to this day, in my own mind, if not in fact, I’m still on death row.”
RT: If you were not behind bars and could be anywhere else in the world, where would you be – and what would you be doing?
Mumia Abu-Jamal: Since my earliest years I was what one would call an internationalist. That is paying attention to what is happening in other parts of the world. As an internationalist I am thinking about life lived by other people all around the world. Of course as an African American I would love to spend some time in parts of Africa. But it is also true that I have many friends and loved ones in France. I would really like to bring my family, my wife and kids to come see our street in Paris.
RT: Being behind bars you seem to be watching world affairs much closer than most people who are free to walk the streets. Which event of the last 30 years would you like to be a part of, if you could?
MAJ: I think the first would probably be the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Because of course once being South African, it was also global, because it was the touch point of white supremacy versus the freedom and dignity of African people. So South Africa would be a logical first choice.
But wherever the people are fighting for freedom, that wins my eye and gets my attention and moves my passion.
RT: You turn 56 at the end of the month, which means you will have to spend more than half of your life behind bars. Most people cannot even begin to imagine that. What is it like? How has it changed you?
MAJ: The point and fact is I have spent most of my life, the bigger percentage of my life on death row. And it cannot but have had a profound effect on consciousness and on the way one sees and interacts with the world. I like to tell myself that I actually spent a lot of that time beyond the bars, in other countries and in other parts of the world. Because I did so mentally. But mental can only take you so far. The truth of the matter is that I spent most of my living years in my lifetime on death row. So, in many ways, even to this day, in my own mind, if not in fact, I am still on death row.
RT: Your story has really become a symbol for many of a flawed justice system. Do you personally have any faith left in a fair and free justice system? Considering your life has been so much affected by it?
MAJ: When I was a teenager and in the Black Panther party I remember I was going to downtown Manhattan and protesting against political imprisonment and incarceration and threats facing Angela Davis… When Davis attacked the prison system, she talked about perhaps 250,000 or 300,000 people imprisoned throughout all the US as a problem to be dealt with, a crisis, a situation that bordered on fascism. Fast forward 30-40 years to the present, today more than 300,000 prisoners in California alone, one state out of fifty. The imprisonment in California alone exceeds that of France, Belgium and England – I could name 4-5 countries combined.
We could not perceive back then of what it would become. It is monstrous when you really look at what is happening today. You can literally talk about millions of people incarcerated by the prisoner-industrial complex today: men, women and children. And that level of mass incarceration, really mass repression, has to have an immense impact in effect on the other communities, not just among families, but in a social and communal consciousness way, and in inculcation of fear among generations. So it is at a level and at a depth that many of us cannot even dream of today.
RT: You talk about so many important social and economic issues in your work; do you have a dream today? If you could see one of those aspects changed which one would you pick? What do you wish you could see happen in the United States?
MAJ: There is never one thing… Because of the system of interconnectedness and because one part of the system impacts another part of the system, and because, what Antonio Gramsci called hegemony of the ideological system impacts other parts of the system. You cannot change one thing that will impact all things. That is one of the lessons of the 1960s, because the civil rights movement was talking about integration and changing the schools. In point of fact if you look at the vast majority of working class and poor black kids in American schools today, they live and spend their hours and their days in the system profoundly as segregated as that of their grandparents, but it is not segregated by race, it is segregated by race and class.
The schools that my grandchildren go to are worse than the schools I went to when I was in my minor years and my teenage years. That’s a condemnation of a system but because former generations only concentrated on one thing or one side of the problem. The problem has really got worse and worse and worse. And while there is a lot of rhetoric about schools, American schools are a tragedy.
RT: You were monitored by the FBI at the age of fourteen, now with laws such as NDAA being passed in the United States when people are watched, detained and can be held, that has become easier than ever, do you think Big Brother has officially shown his face in this country?
MAJ: If you look back it is clear that FBI and their leaders and their agents knew that everything they did then was illegal and FBI agents were taught and trained how to break into places, how to do, what they called, black bag jobs and that kind of stuff, how to commit crimes. And this is what they were also taught, you’d better do it and you’d better not get caught, because if you get caught you are going to jail and we act like we don’t know you, you are on your own. What has happened in the last twenty and thirty years not just NDAA but the so-called Patriot Act has legalized everything that was illegal back in the 1950s-1970s. They legalized the very things that the FBI agents and administrative knew was criminal back then. That means they can look in your mail, they certainly can read your email, they tap your phone – they do all of that. But they do it in the name of national security. What we’re living today is a national security state where Big Brother is legalized and rationalized.
RT: You have described politicians once as prostitutes in suits giving your apologies to honest prostitutes. It is election season in the US right now and we want to ask who do people trust, who would you vote for?
MAJ: Nobody. I have seen no one who I could in good conscience vote for today. Because most of the people that are out there are from two major political parties and all I hear is kind of madness – a wish to return to days of youth to the 1950s or they talk about the perpetuation of the American empire, imperialism. What is there to vote for? How many people consciously go to the polls voting for imperialism, for more war or voting for their son or daughter or father or mother to become a member of the armed forces and become a mass murderer?
RT:You seem to have endorsed the Occupy Wall Street movement that has sprung out the US this year. Is this the type of uprising that you think could change America and do good to the United States?
MAJ: I think it is the beginning of this kind of uprising. Because it has to be deeper, it has to be broader, it has to address issues that are touching on the lives of poor working class people…It is a damn good beginning, I just wish it was bigger and angrier.
RT: You are the voice of the voiceless. What is your message to your supporters right now, to those who are listening to you?
MAJ: Organize, organize, organize. I love you all. Thank you for fighting for me and let’s fight together to be free.
On the steps of the Alameda County Courthouse on April 3rd, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Cal, supporters, and attorneys gathered for a press conference to confront the latest political persecutions by the Oakland police department, UCPD, and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley. In Oakland, the "Ice Cream Three" face charges with hate crime enhancements for a February confrontation with a woman who admitted during a recent preliminary hearing to calling the defendants the racially hateful N-word as well as physically pushing one of them and grabbing a political button from the clothing of one of the defendants. At UC Berkeley, non-violent Occupy Cal protesters were struck by UCPD officers with batons at a demonstration in November only to be later charged with a string of criminal offenses. In Oakland and Berkeley, protesters have been issued stay-away orders at the behest of D.A. O'Malley. The ACLU has called such stay-away orders unconstitutional. At the press conference, speakers denounced the selective prosecutions, the trumped-up charges, the exorbitant bails, the stay-away orders, and the abuse of hate crimes laws now being directed against the occupy movement in the East Bay.
occupyoakland-day177-disc...
One of the Ice Cream Three remains in jail over a month after his arrest due to his $100,000 bail.
Speaking at the press conference were Jessie from the Occupy Oakland Anti-Repression Committee; Yolanda Huang and Nabiel Ahmed, attorneys for Michael Davis; Michael Siegel, Oakland attorney and concerned member of the community; Shane Boyle, UC Berkeley student who was issued a stay-away order; John Viola, National Lawyer's Guild attorney for Nneka Crawford; and Joe Rogoway, attorney for Randolph Wilkins.
Occupy Oakland Denounces Discriminatory Prosecutions and Policing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 3, 2012
Occupy Oakland activists, UC Berkeley students and civil liberties lawyers gathered today to reject a campaign of repression against protesters in Oakland and Berkeley, including unconstitutional stay-away orders from public spaces and selective prosecutions for trumped up charges such as robbery and “hate crimes.”
Perhaps most egregiously, the Alameda County DA, in an obvious corruption of the spirit of the law, pursued a “hate crimes” prosecution of the “Ice Cream 3”–a group of activists who gathered at an ice cream shop to plan a protest in front of Wells Fargo on Piedmont Avenue. The three activists are accused of using an anti-gay slur during an alleged robbery of a pedestrian who criticized their protest. At best, the “hate crimes enhancement” is an offensive abuse of the justice system. The alleged victim even admitted in pretrial hearings to striking one of her “assailants” and using an offensive racial slur during their confrontation.
“It’s disappointing but not surprising that the Ice Cream 3 were held to answer,” said attorney Dan Siegel, former legal advisor to Mayor Jean Quan, of the firm Siegel & Yee, who represented the defendants during a pretrial hearing. “In Alameda, even a ham sandwich would be held to answer and required to go to trial.”
Siegel’s law firm also represents the victims of a vicious assault, who found the DA’s office and OPD indifferent to their plight. The two Oakland residents were viciously assaulted–one of them requiring substantial facial reconstructive surgery–while their assailants repeatedly hurled homophobic slurs. The DA’s refusal to prosecute the assault at all, much less as a hate crime, while enthusiastically pursuing hate crimes prosecution against political activists, reveals a campaign of selective prosecution meant to stifle the free speech and political activism of the Occupy movement. In conjunction with the stay-away orders, these actions are an attempt to “tame” the Occupy movement–as DA Nancy O’Malley recently characterized her policies in an op-ed for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Dozens of Occupiers have also been given stay-away orders from the park in front of Oakland City Hall, known as Oscar Grant Plaza, requiring them to remain up to 300 yards away from the area. These orders, given to many activists who haven’t been convicted of any crime at all, presume guilt and deny these activists the right to take their grievances to the Oakland City Council, which is at the heart of the stay away zone. Many activists have been given stay-away orders for participating in nonviolent protests that occurred far from the Plaza.
Several UC Berkeley students who were victims of a brutal and well-publicized police assault after setting up an Occupy camp on November 9, 2011 on campus, have also been given stay-away orders from all UC property. These orders bar students from participating in an ambiguously-defined list of activities, including legal protests otherwise protected by the First Amendment. This is especially troubling considering UC Berkeley’s historic association with the Free Speech Movement.
The ACLU has submitted habeas corpus petitions to challenge the stay-away orders issued against Occupy Oakland protesters. “In this country, it’s unacceptable to keep demonstrators out of the public square because the government thinks they might engage in illegal conduct in a future demonstration,” wrote ACLU staff attorney Michael Risher. “Courts have made clear that there is a special value to being able to speak in front of the seat of government authority, be it the White House or City Hall.”
While the District Attorney pulls out all the stops to chill the rights of Oakland and Berkeley activists to free speech, not a single police officer in Alameda County has been disciplined, relieved from active duty, or prosecuted for their role in several high-profile acts of violence and suppression of civil rights. This includes the officers who shot Iraq veteran Scott Olsen in the head and videographer Scott Campbell in the leg with less-than-lethal munitions and the officers who beat Iraq veteran Kayvan Sabeghi. In New York City, Occupy Wall Street has faced a similar campaign of police repression and has called for a general strike on May 1 as a part of a campaign against it. Occupy Oakland has endorsed this call for a general strike as have many other Occupy groups around the country. Additionally, Occupy 4 Prisoners plans an action on April 24 called “Occupy the Justice Department” in part to protest repression against political activists.
School children in Jenin protest in solidarity with Hana al-Shalabi, who has been on hunger strike since 16 February against her detention without charge or trial by Israel.
Today marks the 15th day of Hana al-Shalabi’s hunger strike against her arbitrary imprisonment by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank.
Currently held in the Hasharon prison, she was seized from her home in a violent nighttime raid in the early hours of 16 February, when, according to an Addameer profile,
50 Israeli soldiers raided her house in Burqin village, near Jenin, in the early morning. The soldiers were accompanied by an intelligence officer and a large number of dogs and first raided her brother’s home before coming to her house. The IOF [Israeli occupation forces] moved through his house with the pack of dogs, causing the children of the household to panic.
Al-Shalabi, 29, is being held without charge or trial under an “administrative detention” order, a practice dating back to British colonial rule, that goes until 16 August. Al-Shalabi previously spent two years in administrative detention from September 2009, to October 2011, when she was released as part of the Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal.
During the raid, Hana and her family were subjected to violence and harassment, and since her detention she has been subjected to further abuse, including solitary confinement to punish her for her hunger strike, according to Addameer.
No due process
A 29 February Addameer release reports that a hearing by an Israeli military judge (an occupation military officer) to review the administrative detention order was postponed from 29 February, and that:
the judge stated he would be meeting with an Israeli intelligence officer on 4 March. In the meeting, neither Hana nor her lawyers will be permitted to be present. The military judge will make his decision regarding the confirmation of her order following the meeting.
On 23 February, Hana’s mother, 65, and father, 67, also began an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with their daughter. Hana’s hunger strike began during the 66-day hunger strike of Palestinian administrative detainee Khader Adnan, whose case has helped to raise awareness about Israel’s use of arbitrary detention and its violations of international humanitarian law, which permits limited use of administrative detention only in emergency situations, but does not allow for its use as punishment when there is not sufficient evidence for criminal procedures.
An Aljazeera Arabic report (video above) showed Hana’s parents on hunger strike in a solidarity tent near their home in Burqin. Umm Omar, Hana’s mother, said she had attended the military court to see her daughter but was not allowed to see her. Other solidarity actions, included a protest by children at a local school and rallies by the families of other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Addameer has asked people all over the world to contact officials to demand that Al-Shalabi be immediately released and Israel halt the widespread practice of detention without charge or trial. Currently more than 300 Palestinians are held in “administrative detention,” including 21 elected members of the Palestinian legislative council.
Ramallah, 29 February 2012 – Addameer demands the immediate release of Hana Shalabi, a Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike currently held without charge or trial by Israel. Today, 29 February, Hana entered her 14th day of hunger strike in protest of the inhuman and degrading treatment she was subjected to during and following her arrest.
Hana was issued a 6-month administrative detention order on 23 February. After being postponed from an original date of 27 February, today’s review hearing regarding the confirmation of her order resulted in the Israeli military judge postponing the decision yet again. Instead of issuing a decision, the judge stated he would be meeting with an Israeli intelligence officer on 4 March. In the meeting, neither Hana nor her lawyers will be permitted to be present. The military judge will make his decision regarding the confirmation of her order following the meeting.
Hana was arrested on 16 February, less than four months after being released from over two years in administrative detention on 18 October 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange deal concluded by the Israeli government and Hamas, whereby 1,027 Palestinian political prisoners were released in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. During her arrest, Hana and her family were beaten and harassed by Israeli Occupying Forces. After being taken to Salem Detention Center, Hana was subjected to additional beatings, humiliation, and other stark violations. She immediately began an open hunger strike and was subsequently placed in solitary confinement as punishment.
After visiting with her on 27 February 2012, Addameer lawyer Samer Sam’an noted that she had been moved back into a room with other Palestinian female prisoners. She is not ingesting any kind of food or minerals, and is only drinking water. After an initial medical examination, she is now refusing further exams. Addameer lawyer Mahmoud Hassan reported after seeing her in today’s hearing that she seems fatigued but is mentally sharp.
On 23 February, Hana’s mother, 65, and father, 67, also began an open-ended hunger strike in solidarity with their daughter. Hana’s hunger strike began during the 66-day hunger strike of Palestinian administrative detainee Khader Adnan, whose case has helped to raise awareness about Israel’s use of arbitrary detention and its violations of international humanitarian law, which permits limited use of administrative detention only in emergency situations, but does not allow for its use as punishment when there is not sufficient evidence for criminal procedures.
Addameer urges the international community to continue pressuring Israel to end its practice of administrative detention and immediately release Hana Shalabi prior to confirming her administrative detention order. Hana has stated that she will continue her hunger strike if she remains in administrative detention; to ensure her release, local and international coalitions must work rapidly to build a movement in her support.
13th of February, a known Moscow anti-fascist Alexey Olesinov was arrested in St. Petersburg with charges of “hooliganism”, related to incident in Moscow club “Vozdukh” 17th of December.
The following statement on the event was published by anonymous participant of the anti-fascist initiative “Direct help” already 19th of December, but considering arrest of Olesinov, we consider necessary to pick up the topic again.Alexey had not anything to do with this fight, but it is now used as a pretext to imprison him. It is obvious, that “Anti-extremist center” and FSB are now revenging the fact, that they could not jail him for a longer time back in 2009, when he was framed up last time. It is obvious, that real reason why officials are after him, are the anti-fascist activities of Olesinov during last decade.
Old version of our website is currently unavailable, but some background information on the court case of 2009 is available here: Fresh news on topic will be available with tag.
Story of the events in club “Vozdukh” is useful not only in order to once again see, how much official version may differ from real events, but also to demonstrate to all owners of Moscow clubs, how short-sighted it is to employ people with far-right views to security, as they have a tendency to provoke visitors, which will eventually lead to property destruction and other trouble.
Currently, Aleksei is remanded, and next time court will decide on continuation of imprisonment in prior to court 18th of March. You may donate to legal costs of Olesinov through Anarchist Black Cross of Moscow, more details on how to do this are available here: http://wiki.avtonom.org/en/index.php/Donate
Rage of subculture (first-hand account of a participator of “Direct Help” on events in club “Vozdukh”).
On Saturday 17th of December, I became an unwilling witness of incident, to which disappointed audience of the festival “East Beat Fest” took part in club “Vozdukh”, which is located at “Nizhni Susalny” side-street of Moscow. I came there to relax in a friendly atmosphere, and to listen my favorite bands.
In middle of the concert, two new persons came to work for the security – during first part of the concert, security was done by two older guys with t-shirt “security” in a shift. Visitors of the club and participators of the concert immediately paid attention to new security, as they were provoking visitors. They were demonstratively wearing “travmat”-pistols (a popular Russian self-defence weapon, which shots rubber-coated metal bullets), another hand had a tattoo with tsarist black-golden-white flag, and letters CSKA. Guys immediately admitted, that they are “listeners of patriotic rap”, and in their youth they did “trashed some blacks”. Their work consisted of gathering bottles of mineral water from and random harrassment of guests of the concert, the same time they attempted to annoy organisers by bragging that they were ultra-right football hooligans, and members of such notable hooligan firms as “Yaroslavka” and “Gallant Steeds”.
After a number of verbal conflicts with spectators, new security started to complain, that people are going in and out with weapons – this although nobody refused from being searched, and security could not find any weapons during searches. Meanwhile, concert went on, and when headliners, Engage At Will from St. Petersburg and unsubs from Kirov were supposed to perform, a fight between two spectators took place in second floor of the premises. Four persons from the security immediately ran to second floor, where they found two participators and their friends, who were currently negotiating in order to resolve the conflict peacefully. Security grabbed first person they saw, and attempted to push him down the stairs. His friends stepped up to defend him, and did not let him be pushed down the stairs.
After a long and heated debate, security withdraw, promising to solve issues with spectators in the street. They went to complain to art-director of the club, claiming that in second floor “everything was smashed”. Art-director decided to halt concert prematurely. Band members attempted to negotiate, as it was mere half hours of remaining showtime, but director threatened them with police. Organisers promised, that they would be ready to negotiate with police as well, but managers of the club asked everyone to disperse, and organisers to gather their sound system. Organisers agreed, and started to disassemble sound system. I did not witnessed what happened next, but I heard this from my punk acquintances, who helped with disassembling the sound system.
They told that security did not let some of the people to the street, promising that soon their “directors”, “mafia” and “Yaroslavka” will come, and that they will settle their disagreements with organisers of the concert. At that point, organisers had already left the premises with part of the sound system. People, whom security attempted to hold as hostages, refused to stay and wait for whatever there was to come, and headed towards exit. At this point, security grabbed his “travmat” and started to shoot at the crowd. This resulted a stampede at the exit, as people panicked after the shot, some windows got broken either due to stampede or due to shooting. How one of the armed securty personell got beaten up (and according to mainstream media, also shot with “travmat” gun and stabbed” - editorial collective of avtonom.org), is unclear.
But it is obvious, that conflict was provoked by security, or as they now claim in the media, “administrators” of the club. And they were the ones who escalated the conflict, by grabbing their guns and shooting at the people. Now wounded security promises to “give any kind of testimony”, in order to save their arses. And they accuse anti-fascists for escalation of the violence. Obviously, that such people feel that any subcultures pose a threat to them, as nobody will never accept the ridiculous ideas, with which security of the concert associates itself. As for the administrators of the clubs, we recommend them to pick up their cadres more carefully, and also to take account wishes of the organisers of the concerts, and also to follow conditions of the contract until end of the concert, otherwise their profits will disappear as smoke to the air due after a reaction of discontent public.
is a news and discussion forum for supporters of political prisoners, prisoners of war, politicized social prisoners, and victims of police and state intimidation.
This blog is organized and updated autonomously of the disbanded Break the Chains Prisoner Support Network formerly based in Eugene, Oregon. While this online project shares several of the same concerns as the old Break the Chains collective, no formal organization exists behind the current web presence.
"I will never surrender my pride and dignity nor allow the system to 'cut my tongue' and I will always, without fear, speak out against these war crimes and crimes against humanity, no matter if I spend the rest of my life in a prison cage, and draw my last breath of air laying down in this steel bed surrounded by razor-wire fences and cages, and its prison policies that are designed to destroy one's humanity…."
PDF
