PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, USA - Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 - 'May Day 3' defendants receive light sentences in plea bargains. All three had felony charges reduced to misdemeanors. Each got 30 hours of community service within six months of probation. One had been charged with aggravated assault on an officer. Another had been charged with carrying an incendiary device. (It was actually fire juggling equipment.) The judge, Novak, actually ruled to keep the incendiary device charge. In the courtroom, none of the arresting officers were on hand, only the prosecutor. The unpermitted march on May 1 was attacked by police, causing a melee just as the march entered Market Square (where it might have dispersed). They arrested ten, one a juvenile. Several of those arrested were beaten and pepper sprayed. The thuggery of the Pittsburgh cops is clearly evident on videotape. The nine arrested adults spent two to three days in jail. Six of the nine, with misdemeanors, were charged in May, receiving fines and community service. One of these people is to appeal his sentence in January, 2002. The march had included anarchist black flags in celebration of May Day - the international labor holiday originating in Chicago in 1886. It included a festive, spring celebration atmosphere - some carried large paper flowers on sticks. The march had been billed as a sort of reclaim the streets action. Most of the 150 to 200 participants were young anarchists or punks. At subsequent hearings, people from the anarchist WHAT Collective, the Mr. Roboto Project (infoshop-space), Black Radical Congress, the United Electricians, Labor Party and the Thomas Merton (peace) Center had come out to show support. One observer complained that even though light sentences were handed down, the protesters still get criminalized for walking down the street. Most of those arrested were either anarchists or IWW members. -Duff (one of the 'Pittsburgh May Day 9/3'.) ******** ****** The A-Infos News Service ****** News about and of interest to anarchists ****** Tim when you were born,you cried and world around you laughed.When you die soon,you'll laugh and the world around you will cry.