-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Aug. 17, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
PHILADELPHIA: SUPPORTERS AID JAILED ACTIVISTS
As of Aug. 9, some 323 protesters against the prison-
industrial complex and the death penalty were still
imprisoned in Philadelphia, according to the R2K Network.
City officials claimed there were only 152 still being
held.
The activists were arrested during Aug. 1 protests
against the Republican National Convention. Groups of
supporters are camped out at three local prisons, ready to
aid protesters as they are released.
About 80 protesters who were willing to give their names
and addresses to the police were released by Aug 4. More
have been released since then after paying high bails. But
most could not afford the outrageously high bails--up to $1
million--for misdemeanor charges.
The International Action Center demanded a meeting with
Mayor John Street and American Civil Liberties Union
representative Stefan Presser. Both men claimed they did
not believe police brutality had occurred against
protesters kept in the Roundhouse police station for
several days after the Aug. 1 protests.
More than a dozen released protesters signed a letter
asking for a face-to-face meeting to tell them what really
happened. Media reports have attempted to whitewash police
actions during the imprisonment.
In related news, the most serious charges against Thomas
Jones were dropped June 7, including attempted murder of a
police officer. District Attorney Lynne Abraham conceded
that forensic evidence proved a wounded police officer was
shot by another cop, not Jones. Jones' beating by a mob of
cops made international news after it was filmed by a TV
helicopter July 12.
--Joe Piette, story and photo
- END -
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