Sunday August 2, 2009, 12:46 am
For the past eight years, the ANSWER Coalition has been organizing against war, racism, and in defense of civil liberties and civil rights. The following is an email sent by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund regarding a highly significant development involving the rights of protestors. The case stems from the mass arrest of nearly 400 people in Washington D.C.'s Pershing Park on September 27, 2002.

The outcome of this case has far-reaching implications for others who have suffered mass arrest and other acts of police abuse, misconduct, and brutality. Please forward the message from the PCJF to your friends and family and to those on social networking sites and to get more information about the case and to sign up for updates on civil rights and civil liberties issues go to www.JusticeOnline.org.


A U.S. federal judge called for an investigation into the conduct of the Washington, D.C., Office of the Attorney General for its concealment of crucial evidence in a case brought by the PCJF arising from the mass arrest of nearly 400 peaceful demonstrators, legal observers, tourists and bystanders on September 27, 2002.

The Judge has ordered the Attorney General for D.C., Peter Nickles, to submit an affidavit under penalty of perjury explaining his office's conduct in this case, and the loss and destruction of crucial evidence.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said the case appeared to be the "civil counterpart of the Ted Stevens case," in which the U.S. Department of Justice is under investigation for prosecutorial misconduct. He added that the conduct of the Attorney General's Office raised the question of, "when, if ever, can anyone trust their government?"

The plaintiffs in the case were surrounded, trapped and arrested in Washington, D.C.’s Pershing Park without warning during protests in opposition to the policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Hundreds of arrestees where hog-tied wrist to ankle in stress and duress positions for 24+ hours on a gym floor.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based public interest law firm, filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of those arrested.

The Cover-Up

“There has been a deliberate pattern of obstruction, including a breathtaking destruction of evidence, by the D.C. government in an effort to cover up this crime against those who engaged in, or came near, protected free speech activity in the Nation’s Capital,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder with Carl Messineo of the PCJF. Both attorneys are co-lead counsel on the class action case. Attorney Jonathan Turley and counsel from Bryan Cave are counsel on a related legal action stemming from the same arrests. Both sets of attorneys joined in filing for sanctions against D.C.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued before the court that the D.C. government should be sanctioned for destroying a central database and other key evidence, and for concealing hundreds of pages of records and videotapes until the eve of a sanctions hearing, which the government was compelled to produce during the years of litigation. You can read the PCJF's Motion for Sanctions by clicking here.

After years of painstaking litigation and rigourous examination, the PCJF presented to the Court a record of vast discovery abuse and evidence destruction. Two key elements are:

* The PCJF uncovered that the radio runs (the recordings of police channel communications) are missing seconds and minutes at the moments that the arrests are being executed. The missing data is not just on one channel, but across multiple different recorded channels. This data would likely reflect the movements and orders of key command officials including the Chief of Police.

* The backbone Joint Operations Command Center database of the events as they occurred, called the "running resume," has been destroyed. It is a database created in real time as events are unfolding with input from every police and federal agency on the scene reflecting law enforcement movements, orders and observations. First, the District claimed it never existed. The PCJF was able to prove that not only had it existed, but that there had been at least 12 hard copies circulated to command officials and two redundant electronic back-ups of the data base. In deposition, were forced to admit that all of these copies were destroyed, after the hard copy and the database path had been forwarded to the General Counsel's office of the MPD in connection with this case.


To read more information about the case, please go to www.justiceonline.org and sign up for email updates. The PCJF will be posting alerts as this breaking story develops.

In addition to the class action lawsuit, Barham, et. al v Ramsey et. al., the PCJF is lead counsel on numerous First Amendment and constitutional rights cases, including the class action over the similar trap-and-detain mass arrest of nearly 700 people in April 2000 in Washington, D.C.


To read the Washington Post article, "U.S. Judge Blasts D.C.'s Handling of Protest Cases", click here.

To read the Examiner article, Federal Judge Wants Probe of Missing Police Records", click here.

To read the sanctions motion filed by PCJF, click here.

Sunday August 2, 2009, 7:58 pm
The only surprise is that a Judge finally objected!

Monday August 3, 2009, 1:02 pm

Let's not forget that this was done during the early years, 1st term, of the bush, neo-con, fascist administration.

The people that were arrested were there to protest, peacefully, against the policies of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank - two of the more well known but corrupt banking systems in the world.

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For a film glimpse of how it works, more or less, watch "The International". "They control your money. They control your government. They control your life. And everybody pays." Another explanation by Umberto Calvini: "[In explaining the "true" nature of banking in the world] The IBBC is a bank. Their objective isn't to control the conflict, it's to control the debt that the conflict produces. You see, the real value of a conflict, the true value, is in the debt that it creates. You control the debt, you control everything. You find this upsetting, yes? But this is the very essence of the banking industry, to make us all, whether we be nations or individuals, slaves to debt."

movie link: http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/theinternational/ OR

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theinternational/site/

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Another corrupt system is the World Trade Organization.

Movie: "Battle in Seattle" For an overview of this movie: Synopsis for
Battle in Seattle:

Its November 1999, and five days are about to rock the world as tens of thousands of demonstrators take to the streets of Seattle in protest of the World Trade Organizations Ministerial Meeting. Among them are Django (Andre Benjamin), Sam (Jennifer Carpenter), Lou (Michelle Rodriguez) and Jay (Martin Henderson). Each has a unique story, but they're united in a common desire to be heard and to make a difference in the world. For these four protesters, this is very personal and the stakes are higher than mere politics.

A peaceful demonstration to stop the WTO talks quickly escalates into a full-scale riot, and soon a State of Emergency is declared by the Mayor of Seattle. The streets are mayhem, and the WTO is paralyzed. Caught in the crossfire of civil liberties and keeping the peace are Seattle residents, including its beleaguered mayor (Ray Liotta), a riot cop on the streets (Woody Harrelson) and his pregnant wife (Charlize Theron). The choices they all make will change their lives forever.

Writer/Director Stuart Townsend brings together this talented ensemble to intertwine different points of view from protesters and police to delegates and doctors -- each of whom intentionally or accidentally find themselves on the streets of Seattle in those last days of the millennium. Townsend seamlessly merges footage of the real event with his fictional narrative. Ultimately, Battle in Seattle illustrates that even against incredible odds, ordinary people can change the world.

movie link: http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/battleinseattle/ OR

http://www.battleinseattlemovie.com/

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While these are movies, they do provide a glimpse of how those "systems" work, more or less...


TY, Elisa for the forward & Pete for the news article.
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Monday August 3, 2009, 10:03 pm

I forgot to mention that the "Battle in Seattle" movie is based on an actual event that did take place in Seattle in 1999.

The movie itself is interspersed with real footage of the WTO event in Seattle.

You can Google this on the internet.
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Thursday August 6, 2009, 3:30 am
Jim: I tried to give you a green star but they would let do it. Silly rule, I gave you one this week already. Most of these lovely people don't know what the WTO is,how it works, and won't follow through with a Google. They just note usually unread articles , and sometimes write noted -thanks in the comments line. There a song that on some of the web sites that says the dirty fucking hippies were right, they probably like the music. You and me and us old hippies are going to die, leaving everything we learned the hard way to a few but not enough to make a difference. The WTO is going to profit on wars, and slave wage the workers and they are never going to understand or care. They are going to have their causes like animal welfare and zoo reform instead to put their positive energy into. You are Don Quixote, my friend.