Mitchel Cohen
Brooklyn Greens / Green Party of NY, and the Red Balloon Collective
Just spoke with the legal collective in Washington. In an irony of ironies, the 170 or so remaining anti-IMF/World Bank prisoners -- all on hunger strike -- are REFUSING to be removed from their cells and brought into court and released, until their demands are met. These demands include reduction of all charges to minor infractions (parking ticket equivalents) for all protesters arrested, including, retroactively, those who "plead out" earlier in the week and those few on felonies (attacking a cop's foot with their head, touching a police car, etc.).
The prisoners have indicated they would force U.S. Marshals to drag them into court limp and naked to expose the intense brutality and abuse to which they've been subjected at the hands of U.S. Marshals and D.C. police. Apparently, a number of NY Greens are among those still in jail maintaining jail solidarity. Outside the jail, more than 100 people have been maintaining raucous demonstrations around the clock, demanding the unconditional release of all inside and the dropping of charges against everyone, inspiring folks on the inside, who can hear them through the walls. At least one woman prisoner has stripped herself naked as they tried to carry her into court against her will. No word on the men, yet.
Much of the abuse has been at the hands of U.S. Marshals, which is headed by Clinton appointee John Marshall, who, it turns out, is the son of former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Surely, we should demand an investigation of the U.S. Marshals Service, and bring pressure on its chief to fire the whole lot of them and re-examine the duties and responsibilities of being part of that service.
Among other interesting turn-arounds, the chief of police, who has been heaped with praise on the pages of the nation's newspapers, is now facing a rebellious Washington D.C. City Council which has killed a bill praising Chief Gaynor's handling of the demonstrations, as new facts come to light about the real nature of their tactics and the illegality of their arrests.
We've been asked to keep up the pressure by continuing to call the Mayor, and the list of numbers circulated yesterday and updated below. Thousands of people from around the world took part in yesterday's phone zap. D.C. officials report their lines were tied up all day long. And now the circulation of the private cell-phone numbers for dozens of Washington's finest -- obtained from the electronic address book of an undercover cop who "lost" his phone as he tried, unsuccessfully, to stir-up non-violent demonstrators into committing acts of violence against police -- is now turning up the heat further.
Please call Mayor Anthony Williams at (202) 727-2980 and give him a piece of your mind. And also call the Washington Post and demand to know why these abuses haven't been reported: (202) 334-7410. We also might call Pacifica stations and ask why they are not covering any of this, either.
Some photos from April 16-17 can be seen at www.dianegreenelent.com.
Here are the numbers again, to call (all numbers are 202 area code):
D.C. Mayor's office e-mail is: mayor@washingtondc.gov Their website is www.washingtondc.gov
Chief of Police, Office of the Chief Charles H. Ramsey
Police Headquarters
202-727-4218
202-727-9524 (fax)
E-mail address: mpdcchief_org@excite.com You can find a directory of the offices of the entire Metro D.C. PD at www.mpdc.org/frame.htm
SELECTED LINKS