Most will remember the International Society on Animal Genetics conference in July, 2000, when the City of Minneapolis spent an estimated $1.15 million and deployed 831 cops from several agencies to crush 150 peaceful environmental and animal rights protesters (35-40 of whom were undercover cops).
Many will also recall that some of our recently elected officials campaigned on the ISAG fiasco as an example of the police abuse that they planned to stop. Some called for an end to the criminal prosecutions of the protesters during their campaigns. [The City Attorney responsible for the prosecutions, however, was unanimously reappointed by the city council, and the police chief has of course prevailed politically and remained in office] In June, 2002, this political persecution is not over. The City plans to proceed with a trial of one of the ISAG activists this Monday who is accused of various misdemeanoros and a gross misdemeanor charge of Riot. [Disclaimer - I am representing this individual]. A couple of interesting aspects of this case: First, the City has no video or photographic evidence to support its charges against this individual despite having several cops filming and photographing the demonstration. Second, the case against this individual is based exclusively on the claims of undercover cops who recognized him from attending organizing meetings and then got together and made various inflammatory [but false] allegations. He was not arrested at the protest like others, but charged more than a month afterward. This activist was also more easily recognizable because he was the only person of color involved in organizing the protest. In other words, the Minneapolis police of targetted this individual based on their spying on his political activity, and possible racial profiling. While the media's interest in this saga has apparently passed, the City's abuse continues. Jordan Kushner Powderhorn _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
