[Cdhrsupport] LA - 2/14 demo report

[SF-8 case]

On Wednesday, February 14, more than 100 activists demonstrated outside the
LA Federal Building in support of the SF 8.  The 8 are men who worked with
the Black Panther Party -- veterans of the Black Liberation Movement.  They
were arrested on January 23 of this year on charges stemming from an alleged
conspiracy in the killing of a police officer in San Francisco in 1971. The
8 are Ray Michael Boudreaux, 64, of Altadena;  Richard Brown, 65, of San
Francisco; Herman Bell, 59, and Jalil Muntaqim (Anthony Bottom), 55, both
currently incarcerated in New York state; Henry Watson Jones, 71, of
Altadena; Francisco Torres, 58, of Queens, New York; and Harold Taylor, 58,
of Panama City, Fla.  Another man, Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, 62, was still
being sought on murder and conspiracy charges.

Several of the 8 were arrested more than 30 years ago in New Orleans, where
the local police, abetted by the FBI and SF police, tortured them as part of
the Cointelpro "dirty war" that killed numerous Black Panthers, hounded
public figures like MLK, and spied on thousands of people who opposed racism
and the war in Vietnam.  The suffocation, beating and psychological violence
of the cops extracted information that was used to charge many of the 8, but
a Federal judge ruled that torture invalidated the entire case. Before
leaving office, US Attorney General Ashcroft called the original SF police
out of retirement and deputized them to go after the ageing Panthers again.
Now, based on what the Joint Terrorism Task Force calls new
evidence--apparently from another torture victim who told the cops what they
wanted to hear--the government is attempting to try these brothers for the
same case that was dismissed back in the 70s.

On Wednesday, while the 8 appeared in court in SF, the LA Unity Mission for
the SF 8 loudly voiced their opposition to the continued war on Black people
in the US.  The Black Riders Liberation Party, Jericho Amnesty Coalition,
CopWatch, Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional Mexicano, Puerto Rican Alliance,
Bayan USA, Asians for Mumia, Danza Mexica Cuauhtemoc, Peace and Freedom
Party People of Color Caucus, La Abcf (anarchist black cross federation Los
Angeles, Killradio dot org and other organizations denounced the JTTF racist
action and called for freedom for all political prisoners. Director Gregory
Everett of Film Revolution 2027, currently working on a documentary about
the history of the L.A. Panthers, recorded the demonstration on video.

The SF 8 have worked together to form the Committee to Defend Human Rights.
Contact them at http://www.cdhrsupport.org

For more information about support for the SF 8 in Los Angeles, call
310-495-0299 or go to the website for Jericho LA
www.geocities.com/jerichoamnestycoalitionla

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org 
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