It's over, Ken Riley told Labor Notes at 9:15am on Thursday November 8th. An hour before, attorneys for the Charleston 5 had agreed that the 5 would plead no contest to a minor misdemeanor, walking away from their long ordeal with $100 fines.
Ever since South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon bowed out of the case a few weeks ago, hopes had been high that a negotiated settlement could be reached...
"Its a tremendous victory, considering what we were stacked up against", said Riley. "Condon had called for 'jail, jail and more jail'. He even said he wanted these guys to be placed under the jail."
"From that day to this there's been an all-out campaign to counter that type of aggression. We owe the victory to the unrelenting pressure of the movement...."
--from Labor Notes Labor Notes is a monthly newsletter for activists in the labor movement. Visit our website, <http://www.labornotes.org>
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