> US, Detroit passes "anti-anarchist" laws
>
> [Beneath this article: "After raucous debate, police are given guidelines to
> 'protect' community during Windsor conference"]
>
> >From "Active Transformation" <activetrans at hotmail.com>
> Date Mon, 29 May 2000 02:42:07 -0400
> ________________________________________________
> A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
> http://www.ainfos.ca/
> ________________________________________________
>
> Detroit- In hopes to intimidate and scare off upcoming protests against
> the OAS and FTAA meetings in Windsor the Detroit City Council on Friday
> passed 2 laws clearly geared at taking away people rights to assemble.
> In a near secret meeting the council went over 4 proposals to limit the
> rights of demonstrators from June 1st thru 6th. They ranged from not being
> allowed to have water bottles downtown to not being able wear masks and
> hoods. Because of protesters presence and pressure on the council only 2 of
> the measures have passed.
> It is now illegal on June 1st thru 6th to wear masks or hoods in the
> inner city, and it is illegal to fill small gas cans with gasoline unless an
> emergency requires it. Both laws are under appeal.
> The Detroit areas large Muslim population has also vowed to stand along
> side the protesters to have the laws overturned.
> These laws have added to the increased harassment and intimidation that
> local organizers have been facing in recent weeks. Mayor Archer, at the
> council meeting, admitted that over $5 million has been spent on riot gear,
> surveillance, and overtime.
> We should not allow these threats to stand unchallenged. Come to Detroit
> and Windsor on June 4th thru 6th and stand up against the OAS, the FTAA and
> the Detroit City Council.
>
> Make our resistance as transnational as capital!
> Shutdown Windsor, Canada and Detroit, U$A
>
> Active Transformation
> ________________________
> ********
> The A-Infos News Service
> News about and of interest to anarchists
> ********
> COMMANDS: lists at tao.ca
> REPLIES: a-infos-d at lists.tao.ca
> HELP: a-infos-org at lists.tao.ca
> WWW: http://www.ainfos.ca
> INFO: http://www.ainfos.ca/org
>
> To receive a-infos in one language only mail lists at tao.ca the message
> unsubscribe a-infos
> subscribe a-infos-X
> where X = en, ca, de, fr, etc. (i.e. the language code)
> ________________________________________
>
> SHUT DOWN THE OAS!! JUNE 4, 2000
> [from http://stopoasdetroit.webjump.com/ ]
>
> The next citizen showdown against corporate globalization will be on June 4
> in Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. The Organization of American
> States will be holding its Summit of the Americas in Windsor, which is
> across the river from Detroit. The OAS will be discussing the Free Trade
> Area of the Americas (FTAA), their proposal to extend North American Free
> Trade Agreement (NAFTA) across the entire hemisphere. Its aim will be to
> eliminate international [trade] restrictions--forcing countries to compete
> against each other in a rush to the bottom. This means that environmental,
> labor and human rights policies are deregulated as soon as they threaten
> corporate profit and that the FTAA forces
> member countries to prioritize free trade over the needs of communities,
> workers and the environment. There will be peaceful protests, including a
> legal march, and direct actions against the OAS meetings on June 4, 5 and
> 6.
>
> ________________________________________
>
> Council meeting gets nasty
>
> After raucous debate, police are given guidelines to
> protect community during Windsor conference
>
> May 27, 2000
>
> BY JENNIFER DIXON
> FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
>
> Detroit -- In a fight that was nearly as raucous as the protests they
> are trying to prevent, members of the Detroit City Council voted
> Friday to prohibit demonstrators from wearing gas masks and
> hoods during next month's meeting of the Organization of
> American States in Windsor.
>
> The Detroit Police Department had sought the ban as part of a
> package of emergency ordinances designed to prevent protests in
> Windsor and Detroit from turning violent and destructive.
>
> According to documents provided to the council, the City of
> Detroit said it has information that "groups or individuals may
> attempt to disrupt, interfere with or shut down the OAS assembly
> ...by intimidating, threatening, abusing, harassing or injuring
> persons, and by ...unlawfully damaging or destroying private and
> public property."
>
> The OAS, an organization of 35 countries in North, Central and
> South America, will meet June 4-6.
>
> Critics say the OAS is considering a hemispheric trade agreement
> that would put free trade over the needs of communities, workers
> and the environment.
>
> To gear up for the protesters' arrival, Mayor Dennis Archer and
> Detroit police officials asked the council to prohibit the use of
> tents and sleeping bags on public property between June 1-7.
> They also wanted council to prohibit possession of ammonia,
> chlorine bleach, pepper spray, squirt bottles, urine and feces from
> any species, vegetable oil and wrist rockets, in and around
> downtown.
>
> The council rejected those measures, but agreed to restrictions on
> masks and hoods in an area bounded by the Detroit River and
> East and West Grand Boulevard, as well as a ban on putting fuel
> in portable containers.
>
> The votes capped an especially fervent debate, as some council
> members questioned making it a misdemeanor to carry a bottle of
> vegetable oil or a squirt bottle.
>
> Councilwomen Sheila Cockrel and Maryann Mahaffey accused
> the police of trying to take away people's constitutional rights.
>
> "You want to get them out and get tough, and that's not the
> American way. You are trying to keep people away," Cockrel said.
>
> Said Mahaffey: "The kids who wear their pants low, is that going
> to be enough to do it? What if someone has asthma and they wear
> a mask? Is that going to be enough to arrest them?"
>
> Police Cmdr. Micheal Falvo said the city was trying to protect
> police from being blinded by balloons filled with chlorine bleach.
>
> After the vote, Mahaffey repeated that her opposition was on
> constitutional grounds. Councilwoman Kay Everett turned to her
> angrily and shouted: "You tell that to an officer that gets chlorine
> in the face!"
>
> For more information about the OAS, go to http://www.oas.org.
> For more information about the Windsor and Detroit protests
> and opponents' views, go to http://www.tao.ca/~stopftaa or
> http://stopoasdetroit.webjump.com
>
> Contact JENNIFER DIXON at 313-223-3327 or
> dixon at freepress.com
>
> ____________________________________.
> __________________________________________________
> No real social change has ever come about without a revolution.
> --Emma Goldman