8/3 - Report from Philly

[Chuck0]

Thursday, August 2 - Report from Philadelphia
from  Leslie Cagan

Well, actually, I’m no longer in Philadelphia. Even though I left early
yesterday I have been following developments and can report on some of
what’s been happening. I also want to tell you about some of the other
activities I attended over the four days I was there. 

The latest news I have (as of 8 am this morning) is that aside from a
few who have been released, the overwhelming majority of folks arrested
during the last few days of protests are still in jail. It was earlier
reported that many had been taken to Holmesberg Prison: in fact, only 25
people are being held there. Another 22 are at the 23th District jail of
the Philadelphia police and the rest are at the central Philadelphia
jail called the Roundhouse.

There are still very different reports on the number of people arrested.
The police put the figure at 282, but the legal team for the R2K network
(the umbrella structure for all of the protests during the Republican
Convention) have counted 465. While I can’t confirm this, I think the
police are counting just those people arrested on the streets during the
direct action on Tuesday. In other words, they are probably not
including the 75 people arrested at the puppet space  (see my report
from August 1st - part 2) or the scores of people arrested throughout
the last few days, including at least 50 during protest activities on
Wednesday.

But whatever the number is, the reports from the inside are not good.
For at least ten hours there was no food, at one point the guards had
suspended bathroom “privileges”, the legal team representing those
arrested had very little access to their clients, and many of those held
were told that their lawyers were not coming to see them when in fact
the real story was that the authorities were not telling the legal team
who was being held where. On top of this, there are reports of police
and guard violence against people in custody, and at least one woman was
seen being dragged naked and bleeding. Several people have been held in
isolation, including those identified as organizers, and are being given
more serious charges. The medical needs of some of the arrestees are not
being met, including the withholding of asthma inhalers and medication
for hypoglycemia.

A very slow arraignment process - with judges in many instances not
allowing the R2K lawyers to be present - has resulted in bail being set
anywhere from $100 to $15,000 to $100,000 and as high as $400,000! Some
people have gotten out, but most are participating in jail solidarity,
demanding that charges be dropped and everyone be released together.
People have been gathered outside the jail since the arrests started and
a call has gone out for people around the country to contact the
following people:

Mayor John Street 215-686-2181
Deputy Commissioner Mitchell (in charge of Demonstrations) 215-686-3364
Captain Fisher (Head of Civil Affairs) 215-685-3684
Chief Maxwell (Head of Detectives & Criminal Investigations)
215-686-3362. 

If you do place a call, you are asked to encourage or demand the
following:
1) All charges be dropped, including those who are charged with 
felonies and those that have already been released.
2) No separation or isolation of any individual.
3) Equal treatment for all individuals.
4) Full access to health care including medicines, food and bathroom.
5) An end to the harassment of legal observers.

According to reports in the mainstream media, the police have said they
will hold people until Friday, the day after the Republican Convention
ends, so placing calls to the Philadelphia city officials as soon as
possible is very important.

I had planned to include here some reporting on other activites over the
past few days, but because action is required right away in support of
those still in jail I will send along the rest in a few hours. In the
meantime, I hope you will take a moment right now to call the city
officials in Philadelphia.


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