The Skinny If'n You Want to Support First Amendment Rights in NYC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RNC Arrestees Coalition Presents:

RNC Mass Arrests: Rally to Remember
We have not been silenced!

When: Wednesday August 31st, 5:30 pm

Where: Eastern Park Row sidewalk between Spruce and Beekman (by City Hall)

What: Rally at City Hall against mass arrests and police repression

Last year, on August 31, the Bloomberg Administration engaged in mass arrests and illegal detentions in order to silence dissent during the Republican National Convention. Hundreds were arrested, some while engaging in peaceful protest actions, others while simply passing by during the mass arrests.

Arrestees were held in cages in Pier 57, a toxic holding pen formerly used as a bus depot. Many were detained well over 24 hours, in violation of the law and in defiance of a court order. Some were held as long as 48 hours.

Emmanuel Goldstein, editor of 2600, and an eyewitness inside Pier 57, said, “I saw long lines of obviously overheated people, lines that didn't seem to be going anywhere. The whole thing had this refugee flavor to it. I saw a girl passed out on the ground, the people around her bending over to try and help. The police went about their business.”

Prior to the RNC, Commissioner Kelly said, "We're gathering information about plans that people may have to come here, and we understand, this is what America's all about, people to demonstrate peacefully, make their feelings known. And we want to facilitate that and keep it peaceful." But the mass arrests and detentions were carried out to deliberately silence and deter peaceful protests.

The Arrestee Coalition says that the attempt to silence them has failed. This year, on August 31, RNC Arrestees and supporters will rally outside City Hall to let the Bloomberg Administration know that we have not been silenced.

Speakers will include:

Norman Siegel - Former Executive Director of NYCLU and Candidate for Public Advocate
Bill Goodman - Legal Director of Center for Constitutional Rights
Marty Stolar - President of the NY Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild
Jon Winkleman
And Testimonials from RNC Arrestees

Endorsed by: National Lawyers Guild, International Action Center, Code Pink, Ladies of Liberty, Queens Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club, Stonewall Deomctratic Club of New York City

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and the affiliated after party:

A31 Liberty Bash!

August 31st 8:00pm
Brooklyn Lyceum
227 4th Ave & President (R Train to Union St.)
PaRk SLoPe, BK

Protecting Protest ~ an A31* 1 year Anniversary Event and Fundraiser for the Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (part of the New York Civil Liberties Union).

The party will run from 8:00 pm to midnight on Aug 31st following the 5:00 pm RNC Mass Arrests: Rally to Remember - We have not been silenced! at City Hall Park

$5-20+ sliding scale donation at door
Featuring DJ's and dancing, community speakers, music, video & more!

Line up:
8:00 - 9:00pm: Special showing of Ryan Junell's video installation “See the Elephant!" filmed during the 2004 Republican National Convention.
9:00 -10:00pm: Local Community speakers: Donna Liebermann, Norm Siegel, Bill Perkins, Gloria Mattera and representatives from the BORDC, Freewheels & Develop Don't Destroy!
10:00 - midnight: Billionaires 4 Bush, Missile Dick Chicks, DJ Xavier

• A31 is the date August 31, 2004 when people took to the city streets for a day of non-violent direct action to confront the Bush administration’s unjust policies at home and abroad and to stand up against the Republican National Convention in NYC. On that day alone around 1200 people were unlawfully arrested in police dragnets across the city and detained in filthy holding pens at Pier 57 and at the Tombs for periods of well over 24 hours. Nearly 2,000 people went to jail that week! Although a handful of people were directly performing acts of civil disobedience, most arrestees were legally protesting or bystanders on the street. The NYPD and governing authorities denied our civil rights by acting as the Republican Party’s private security force to criminalize free speech and remove protest from the NYC streets in an attempt to silence dissent before the night of Bush's nomination for President at Madison Square Garden. Since A31, nearly all the A31 criminal arrests have been dismissed. A class action lawsuit has been filed and many more group and individual complaints are set to follow in Federal court. While the National media, NYPD and mayor's office have trivialized this event, we must not forget A31 and continue to take action to address and defend the accumulating desecration of our civil liberties.

"If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society."
--Condoleezza Rice, National Security Advisor, January 18, 2005