MAY!Heard about Pittsburg PA?

[mattd]

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'.)



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