Breaking: Terrorism charges against RNC Eight will be dropped

Breaking: Terrorism charges against RNC Eight will be dropped

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office is preparing to drop terrorism charges against the so-called RNC Eight, according to a source close to discussions about the high-profile prosecutions. The group of activists, who have been accused of a criminal conspiracy to disrupt the Republican National Convention, will still face felony charges of criminal conspiracy to riot and damage property.

This means that the defendants will no longer be subject to a possible 50-percent enhancement in their prison sentences if ultimately convicted of the charges. The RNC Eight (pictured) are believed to be the first defendants ever charged under the Minnesota version of the federal PATRIOT Act.

The decision to reduce the charges comes as the terrorism prosecutions have received heightened scrutiny from the media. It also comes as the calendar for Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party gatherings gets crowded, including a debate for gubernatorial candidates next week at St. John’s University. Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner is hoping to win the party’s backing for governor and has been receiving criticism from party activists for the prosecutions.

Jordan Kushner, an attorney for one of the RNC Eight defendants, believes the decision to reduce the charges is entirely political. “She obviously got too much bad publicity about it and she’s backing away,” he says. “But the problem is that all the charges are politically motivated and unjustified.”

Craig Murray: Lies and Innuendo in the Ian Tomlinson Case

Craig Murray: Lies and Innuendo in the Ian Tomlinson Case

The American tourist who captured on video what may have been the second assault on Ian Tomlinson by the Police, has done us a great favour.

I have been on several demonstrations in Central London in the last few years, and like everyone else who has done that, I have got used to the experience of being constantly filmed. Central London – and particularly the area around Bishopsgate – is fully covered by CCTV. In addition you had at the G20 demonstration scores of police cameramen filming from every vantage point at a demonstration. I have no doubt that on the recent huge Gaza demo I was filmed every step for two miles.

Let me be quite plain. I do not believe that there was no official footage of the police assault on Ian Tomlinson. Just as the security cameras in Stockwell station and on the train were “Not working” in the Jean Charles De Menezes case, I accuse the Police of subverting the video evidence.

Video of police assault on Ian Tomlinson, who died at G20 protest

Video of police assault on Ian Tomlinson, who died at G20 protest

The Guardian obtained this footage of Ian Tomlinson at a G20 protest in London shortly before he died. It shows Tomlinson, who was not part of the demonstration, being assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by baton-wielding police.

Police ‘assaulted’ bystander who died during G20 protests

Police ‘assaulted’ bystander who died during G20 protests

The man who died during last week’s G20 protests was “assaulted” by riot police shortly before he suffered a heart attack, according to witness statements received by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Investigators are examining a series of corroborative accounts that allege Ian Tomlinson, 47, was a victim of police violence in the moments before he collapsed near the Bank of England in the City of London last Wednesday evening. Three witnesses have told the Observer that Mr Tomlinson was attacked violently as he made his way home from work at a nearby newsagents. One claims he was struck on the head with a baton.

Photographer Anna Branthwaite said: “I can remember seeing Ian Tomlinson. He was rushed from behind by a riot officer with a helmet and shield two or three minutes before he collapsed.” Branthwaite, an experienced press photographer, has made a statement to the IPCC.

Another independent statement supports allegations of police violence. Amiri Howe, 24, recalled seeing Mr Tomlinson being hit “near the head” with a police baton. Howe took one of a sequence of photographs that show a clearly dazed Mr Tomlinson being helped by a bystander.

A female protester, who does not want to be named but has given her testimony to the IPCC, said she saw a man she later recognised as Tomlinson being pushed aggressively from behind by officers. “I saw a man violently propelled forward, as though he’d been flung by the arm, and fall forward on his head.

Witnesses Statement: Death at G20

Witnesses Statement: Death at G20

Various participants in the City of London demonstrations on April 1st have come forward as witnesses to the collapse of a man later identified by authorities as Ian Tomlinson. Four different university students witnessed the collapse of Mr. Tomlinson. “He stumbled towards us from the direction of police and protestors and collapsed,” said Peter Apps. “I saw a demonstrator who was a first aider attend to the person who had collapsed. The man was late 40s, had tattoos on his hands, and was wearing a Millwall shirt.”

While the first aider was helping the man, another demonstrator with a megaphone was calling the police over so that they could help.

Natalie Langford, a student at Queen Mary, said “there was a police charge. A lot of people ran in our direction. The woman giving first aid stood in the path of the crowd.” The running people, seeing a guy on the ground, went around them.

Another demonstrator had already called 999 and was getting medical advice from the ambulance dispatcher. “Four police with two police medics came. They told her [the first aider] to ‘move along’.”, said Peter Apps. “Then they pushed her forcibly away from him. They refused to listen to her [the first aider] when she tried to explain his condition.”

Guardian report (2).

What I Saw: Protestors tell of G20 police violence

This week saw protests around the G20 summit being held in London. While world leaders met and talked, protests took place in the City of London, one of the biggest financial centres in the world.

During the protests, clashes took place between police and protestors. First hand reports are being collated at G20 Police: What I Saw, while coverage of the protests themselves can be found at the Indymedia feature on the G20.

Scotland Yard: “Summer of Rage”…or not

Recent comments by police describing an alleged Summer of Rage have been doing the rounds of various news outlets. The following comes from Reuters:

Police said on Monday a summit of the world’s largest economies in London in April could set off mass protests aggravated by the global economic crisis.

Anti-globalisation protesters, environmental activists and anti-war demonstrators are planning a series of events in the run-up to and during the G20 summit of world leaders opening on April 2 to discuss the global financial downturn.

“We’ve got G20 coming and I think that is being advertised on some of the (Web) sites as the highlight of what they see as a ‘summer of rage’,” Superintendent David Hartshorn, head of London’s public order policing branch, said.

Yet the same article quotes Scotland Yard:

Scotland Yard said there was no intelligence to suggest a “wave of potentially violent mass protests” or a return to riots that hit cities during economic downturns of the 1980s.

“What police do believe is that there has been a re-emergence of some known activists who may attempt to once again become part of the protest scene in London,” a police spokesman said.

“Plus with environmental and economic issues affecting more people, this may broaden the appeal of demonstration.”

Demonstrations are due to kick off on March 28 with a “Put People First” march through London coordinated by unions, charities and anti-poverty campaigns.

So…this Summer of Rage will not, according to Scotland Yard, be a summer of violence so much as a summer of lots of protests. Yet this is apparently worth scaremongering over.

Le sigh…

Prominent US Activist Admits He Infiltrated RNC Protest Groups as FBI Informant

Prominent US Activist Admits He Infiltrated RNC Protest Groups as FBI Informant

An Austin-based activist named Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant in the eighteen months leading up to the Republican National Convention. Darby has admitted to wearing recording devices at planning meetings and wearing a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He is expected to testify on behalf of the government later this month in the trial of two Texas activists who were arrested at the RNC on charges of making and possessing Molotov cocktails.

Guests:

Lisa Fithian, Austin Informant Working Group. She is a longtime organizer and activist based in Austin.

Carly Dickson, Member of the Austin People’s Legal Collective.

Joe England, Family friend of Brandon Darby

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to a story out of Austin, Texas that’s shocked social justice activists nationwide. A prominent Austin-based activist named Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant in the eighteen months leading up to the Republican convention. Darby has admitted to wearing recording devices at planning meetings and wearing a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He is expected to testify on behalf of the government later this month in the trial of two Texas activists who were arrested at the RNC on charges of making and possessing Molotov cocktails.

In a statement, a group of Austin-based activists called the Austin Informant Working Group condemned Darby. The group says, “[T]he emerging truth about Darby’s malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him.” The statement goes on to raise suspicions Darby may have gone beyond spying on the accused activists but in fact encouraged and provoked them into breaking the law.

Rioters of the world unite

Rioters of the world unite

EVERY scholar of 20th-century history can tell you about the Communist International—usually called Comintern, and strictly speaking the third in a series of four global fraternities whose aim was to pursue the class struggle all over the world.

Is it possible to imagine an Anarchist International, a trans-national version of the inchoate but impassioned demonstrations that have ravaged Greece this month? (Perhaps because it is easier to say what Greece’s malcontents are against than what they are for, the word “anarchist” is an accepted catch-all term for the anti-establishment rebels who form the hard core of the Athenian protesters.)

By definition, anarchy is harder to propagate than rigid Leninism. Whatever is spreading from Athens, it is not a clear programme for a better world. The malcontents of Greece include ideological class warriors, nostalgists for the protests against the junta of 1967-74 and people (including drug dealers and bank robbers) with a grudge against the police. Relations between police and the counter-culture have worsened recently; the police are accused (rightly) of bullying migrants, the bohemians of dallying with terrorism. A messy scene, with no obvious message.

But the psychological impulse behind the Greek protests—a sense of rage against all authority, which came to a head after a 15-year-old boy was killed by a police bullet—can now be transmitted almost instantaneously, in ways that would make the Bolsheviks very jealous. These days, images (moving as well as still) spread faster than words; and images, of course, transcend language barriers.

Of particular interest:

The spread of sympathy protests over what began as a local Greek issue has big implications for the more formal anti-globalisation movement. That movement has ignored the idea of spontaneous but networked protest, and instead focused on taking large crowds to set-piece events like summits. Such methods look outdated now. Governments are not the only things that networked “anarchy” threatens.

Icelanders Protest Economic Crisis

Icelanders Protest Economic Crisis

Thousands of Icelanders marked the 90th anniversary of sovereignty from Denmark Monday by demanding the government resign over the country’s economic crisis.

Hundreds of marchers tried to storm central bank headquarters in Reykjavik. They left after a tense hour-long standoff with riot police.

The global financial crisis has left Iceland’s economy in shambles. Three major banks have collapsed, unemployment has soared, and the value of the krona has plunged.

Prime Minister Geir Haarde has refused to resign or call for early elections. He blames Iceland’s economic calamity on commercial bankers.

The government was forced to ask the International Monetary Fund and several countries for a multi-billion-dollar loan.