Minnesota's First Occupy Trial is Monday 7/31/12; Please Make Calls & Stand in Solidarity
Karen Studders
The first Occupy trial in Minnesota is Monday, July 31, 2012.
I am writing to ask you to stand in solidarity and since you are in New York, please make phone calls:
Mayor R.T.
Rybak at 612-673-2100
Assistant City Attorney Mary Ellen Heng at 612-673-2270
City Attorney Susan Segal at
612-673-3272
- Ask them WHY Occupy protesters are facing unusually harsh charges.
- Demand that they DROP ALL CHARGES on anti-foreclosure protesters.
Want to share a brief video of one of the awesome women at this Occupation who is on trial. Her name is Misty Rowan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EgfRLwQOOA
Details below.
Thank you! Miss you! I am networking to find paid work and return to NYC to continue to work with OWS in person. Please let me know of needs and opportunities!
Blessings and Solidarity,
Karen
The first trial of Occupiers is Mon, July 30, 2012. On trial are four people who protested in tents in an intersection in front of U.S. Bank in October 2011.
Supporters are needed to pack the court at the Hennepin County Government Center.
To find the court room, look on the TV screen in the lobby for the names “Rowan, Misty.”
Trial motions begin at 8:30 am, and it’s hard to tell how long the first day will last. Trial could run several days next week.
Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/422022844505688/
Background:
On October 20, 2011,
hundreds of
people participated in a demonstration in front of U.S. Bank in
downtown
Minneapolis, to draw attention to the fact that over 25,000
Minnesotans lost
their homes to foreclosure in 2010 alone. 7 people were arrested
in the
intersection in front of the bank and charged with “interfering
with pedestrian
and vehicular traffic.”
Four of these people are scheduled to go to trial on July 30th, but on July 20th they had three more charges added (unlawful assembly, public nuisance and not complying with a “peace officer”)!
Nationally, the Occupy movement is facing increasing police brutality, police infiltration, and trumped up charges. Locally the Minneapolis city attorney’s office has decided to try to shut down the growing movement of people standing in solidarity with families struggling to save their homes from foreclosure by giving protesters outrageous charges. For example, the city prosecutors have escalated charges on the 14 protesters who defended the Cruz family home on May 30th. Prosecutors at the City Attorney’s office originally charged supporters with trespassing, but have now moved to significantly more serious charges including 3rd degree riot – a gross misdemeanor which carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $3,000 fine.The city of Minneapolis is trying to scare people from standing in solidarity with people being thrown out of their own homes. Solidarity is not a crime. Don’t jail the movement, jail the bankers!
-- Karen Studders, J.D. The world we have created is a product of our thinking. We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. --Albert Einstein ________________________________________