Autonomedia writes: This information from Gerard Damiano: "It has been one year since the arrest of 78 innocent people during the
Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. The Struggle Continues...
Thanks for your continued support.
Gerard


Following is a press release which was issued yesterday.


PUPPET WAREHOUSE CIVIL SUITS FILED ON ANNIVERSARY OF GOP CONVENTION ARRESTS

Puppet warehouse arrestees file largest RNC civil suit to date on the
anniversary of mass arrests made at last year’s Republican Convention
protests. Lawsuits allege police abuse and malicious prosecution of
meritless cases.

(Philadelphia, PA) Attorneys Paul Hetznecker and Lawrence Krasner filed
suit in federal court today against the City of Philadelphia on behalf of
what will be dozens of people arrested in a warehouse where puppets, signs
and banners were being made on August 1, 2000 during the Republican
National Convention (RNC). The lawsuit alleges that demonstrators were
subject to preventive detention and malicious prosecution. The warehouse
defendants suffered months of hearings before the cases were thrown out
last November. A year later, there are still nine cases stemming from the
RNC protests that have yet to go to trial. The DA has delayed eight of
those cases in an attempt to impose harsher treatment.



Of the over seventy people who were arrested in the puppet warehouse,
approximately fifty are committed to filing suit against the city. Today's
suit includes an initial wave of eleven plaintiffs, with the rest joining
on over the next couple of weeks. The plaintiffs allege unlawful arrest,
improper search and seizure, excessive bail, and denial of free speech
rights. The suits seek monetary damages and more importantly injunctions
against police abuse.



“The puppet cases have been seen as the clearest example of police
misconduct,” says Matthew Hart of the Spiral Q Puppet Theater and plaintiff
in the suit against the city. “Yet, it has been shown time and again that
they are merely examples of widespread misconduct that occurred at last
summer’s demonstrations under Police Commissioner Timoney’s watch.”



At the time of the warehouse raid, the occupants were accused of having C4
explosives and acid-filled balloons. They were also accused of using the
puppet space to plan violence and orchestrate a riot. In court, these
claims evaporated. All of the cases against those arrested in the warehouse
were thrown out. No weapons were found there, and there was no evidence of
violence being planned. Not one person arrested there could be linked to
any violent, or even non-violent illegal act.


Hundreds of activists that were in Philadelphia to voice outrage on issues
such as the criminal “justice” system--the death penalty, police violence,
class warfare--and corporate domination of politics and the global economy
were arrested, overcharged, and excessively prosecuted. Of the over 400
arrested, all but a handful of the cases have been thrown out, vindicating
people’s claims of excessive charging and malicious prosecution. Of the
original forty-three people charged with felonies, most have had their
charges dropped or thrown out, and there have been no felony convictions at
trial.



School of the Americas Watch activist Linda Panetta’s case was dismissed
last Fall on grounds of selective prosecution and then later appealed by
the DA’s office. “The DA’s decision to appeal the case is further proof
that the city is intent on targeting peaceful political activists,” says
Panetta.


“These suits show how the City of Philadelphia did wrong and should own up
to it,” said attorney Lawrence Krasner. “Having lost over and over again in
the criminal proceedings, it’s time for the city to stop using the
protesters as a political football to promote its own political agenda at
the expense of all our rights.”