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<font size=3>Anti-Racists Face Serious Legal Battle in Philly:<br>
UPDATE AND PLEA FOR LEGAL FUNDS!<br><br>
*PLEASE FORWARD*<br><br>
On Monday July 23rd, four anti-fascists from the Philadelphia, PA
area<br>
were arrested at what was supposed to be a Ku Klux Klan rally in
Center<br>
City Philadelphia. Jared Schultz, Tom Keenan, Jason Robbins - all of<br>
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action - and Jim McGovern - of the
Progressive<br>
Labor Party - were all arrested and charged with a series of trumped
up<br>
misdemeanors in a situation that - for all practical purposes - was<br>
straight up entrapment.<br><br>
Rumors spread through Philadelphia starting Friday July 20th that the
Ku<br>
Klux Klan was supposed to show up for an 11AM rally on Monday at
Love<br>
Park. While anti-fascists were present in the area starting at 10:30AM,
no<br>
racists showed up for the rally until noon when two men wearing what<br>
appeared to be neo-Nazi t-shirts showed up in the area.
Anti-fascists<br>
approached the men, confirmed they were neo-Nazis and told them to
leave.<br>
Words were exchanged between the Klansmen and the anti-fascists, and
then<br>
the neo-Nazis said they were leaving. The anti-fascists then
followed<br>
behind them to make sure that they kept their promise.<br><br>
Strangely, Civil Affairs cops remained on the other side of the park
the<br>
entire time and made no efforts to follow the group even when they
were<br>
out of their sight. The boneheads got into an SUV around the corner
and<br>
were driven away. As they attempted to drive off, conveniently
blocked by<br>
traffic, a verbal confrontation ensued with the anti-fascists
lasting<br>
several minutes before a window of the SUV was smashed. The driver
who<br>
could have flashed his badge at anytime to disperse the crowd - then<br>
ordered Schultz, Keenan, Robbins and McGovern against the
wall.<br><br>
While the arresting officer was a Philadelphia Police Department<br>
detective, the SUV was, according to paperwork received by the
arrestees,<br>
the vehicle of FBI Special Agent Sean Brennan, also present during
the<br>
arrests. What an FBI agent was doing escorting neo-Nazis away from
the<br>
park remains a total mystery.<br><br>
After the arrests, all four of the anti-fascists were transported to
the<br>
9th Police Precinct where they remained for approximately 27 hours<br>
awaiting notice of their charges and bail amounts.<br><br>
Initially, the arrestees were informed that for some odd reason,
Internal<br>
Affairs was investigating their case and that they would be facing
10<br>
charges - 4 felonies and 6 misdemeanors. In the end, however, all of
the<br>
felonies were dropped, leaving the arrestees with 8 misdemeanor charges
of<br>
varying degrees upon being bailed out. The fact that the charges
were<br>
dropped so quickly proves just how trumped up these charges are.
However<br>
there's still a lot at stake for The Love Park 4.<br><br>
Currently, everyone is facing the same 8 charges - Possession of an<br>
Instrument of Crime With Intent, Criminal Conspiracy Engaging with<br>
Possession of Instrument of Crime with Intent, Institutional<br>
Vandalism/Illegal Possession, Reckless Endangering Another Person,<br>
Resisting Arrest, Criminal Mischief, Harassment - Subject Other to<br>
Physical Contact, and Disorderly Conduct/Grading.<br><br>
At this point, everyone is out of jail, doing fine and just taking
some<br>
time to relax for a few days before what could be a lengthy and
expensive<br>
legal ordeal. All of the defendants are scheduled for court on
October<br>
3rd, and are in the process of establishing a legal defense fund and<br>
securing legal counsel.<br><br>
We are confident that with the right resources, all of the
anti-fascists<br>
arrested will be able to defeat these outrageous charges which could<br>
result in tens of thousands of dollars in fines and years of jail
time<br><br>
*But we sure can't go it alone*<br><br>
We need the resources to win this legal battle and you can help right
now!<br><br>
Simply go to
<a href="http://www.paypal.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.paypal.com</a>, click on the "send money" tab and
make<br>
a donation to cyndipitt@gmail.com. If you wish to send funds
through the<br>
mail a check or well concealed cash to<br><br>
Heartsville Community Space<br>
PO Box 5917<br>
Philadelphia, PA 19137.<br><br>
Make sure to note that it is for The Love Park 4.<br><br>
Write to philly_ara@yahoo.com to receive updates on how you can lend
a<br>
hand. They'll be plenty of work to do.<br><br>
<br><br>
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