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fyi all... I was there for over an hour (before the arrests). It
was good to protest this so-called prison party and the energy was
strong and positive. Really too bad that folks ended up beaten and
arrested!<br>
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Diana Block<br>
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<p> For Immediate Release: June 29, 2014<br>
Contact: <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:gayshamesf@yahoo.com">gayshamesf@yahoo.com</a><br>
<br>
Trans and Queer Activists Beaten and Arrested During SF
Pride<br>
<br>
San Francisco's Mission District – At least six people
were arrested on Saturday night after a protest against
a prison-themed Kink.com party.<br>
<br>
The six included a National Lawyers' Guild Legal
Observer; several protesters were clubbed and beaten to
the ground after a protest numbering several hundred
marched to the Armory at 14thand Mission Streets in the
Mission District, from a 10 p.m. gathering at the 16th
Street BART Station. Two of the arrestees have been
released; four are still in custody as of 4 a.m. Sunday
morning.<br>
<br>
The promoters of the Kink.com party mockingly invited
people to "get arrested" and enjoy "solitary
confinement, showers, jailbreak, love and lust, freedom
and confinement." The protesters argued that the party
was a crude event that profited off of the brutality
suffered by trans women and gender nonconforming people
of color, who are so often funneled into the prison
industrial complex. <br>
<br>
"This is a travesty--on the anniversary of the famed
Stonewall Rebellion, where trans and queer people rose
up against police brutality, that six people would be
arrested for protesting an SF Pride-sanctioned party
that celebrated state violence and prison rape," said
Mary Lou Ratchet, a Gay Shame (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://gayshamesf.org/gayshamesf.org">gayshamesf.org</a>)
representative. The march was organized by Gay Shame and
LAGAI (<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://gayshamesf.org/www.lagai.org">www.lagai.org</a>).<br>
<br>
A coalition of community groups and members of the gay
community, including Pride Grand Marshals, had already
signed on to a petition condemning the event:<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/%2051040/p/dia/action3/common/%20public/?action_KEY=14295">http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/
51040/p/dia/action3/common/ public/?action_KEY=14295</a><br>
<br>
take action:<br>
<br>
Please join us in continuing and advancing the struggle
for liberation from the prision industrial complex by
calling in to the SF DA's office to demand that the
charges against Rebecca, Prisca, and Sarai are dropped.<br>
<br>
Please call in to either<br>
(415) 553-1751<br>
(415) 553-1754<br>
<br>
basic ask:<br>
<br>
"We demand that the DA's office Drop the Charges against
Rebecca Luisa Ruiz-Lichter, Prisca Carpenter, Sarai
Robles-Mendez."<br>
<br>
Please feel free to add any additional comments and
spread the word.<br>
<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.change.org/petitions/office-of-san-francisco-district-attorney-george-gasc%C3%B3n-drop-the-charges-against-rebecca-ruiz-lichter-prisca-carpenter-sarai-robles-mendez?share_id=ywvAdyzJTu&utm_campaign=share_button_action_box&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition">Petitioning
Office of San Francisco District Attorney George
Gascón Drop the Charges against Rebecca Ruiz-Lichter,
Prisca Carpenter, Sarai Robles-Mendez</a><br>
<br>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img moz-do-not-send="true"
src="http://gayshamesf.org/images/no%20pride%20in%20prison%20GS%20large.jpg"
width="600"> </p>
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-- <br>
<div class="moz-signature">Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
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