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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><U>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</U> - July 22,
2001 </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Contacts: Heidi Boghosian, Executive
Director, 212-627-2656, ext. 11<BR>
Bruce Nestor, President,
319-351-4567<BR>
Zak Wolfe, National VP and Mass Defense Committee,
202-530-5992</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial size=2><U><STRONG>NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD
CONDEMNS USE OF LIVE AMMUNITION <BR>AGAINST DEMONSTRATORS AT G8 SUMMIT IN GENOA,
ITALY</STRONG></U></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>The National Lawyers Guild has
monitored and documented an escalation in the United States
</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>government's, and now
international governments', militarization of force against
protestors</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG> in the
anti-globalization movement</STRONG></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) condemns the use
of live ammunition against protesters at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit being
held in Genoa, Italy on July 20-22, 2001. Guild President Bruce Nestor
notes that "The killing by police on July 20 of Carlo Giuliani was the
inevitable result of an increasing willingness to use excessive force as part of
a broad denial of democratic participation in the global decision making
process. Since the first worldwide mass demonstration against corporate
power at the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle in 1999, the
Guild has defended protestors whose First Amendment rights were violated,
provided legal observers, and filed lawsuits challenging the government's
excessive use of force as well as its pre-emptive tactics to curb individuals'
First Amendment rights."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Founded in 1937, the National Lawyers Guild
currently consists of over 6,000 lawyers, legal workers, law students and
jailhouse lawyers working in the service of the people to the end that human
rights are more sacred than property interests. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The overwhelming number of demonstrators at these
mass demonstrations are engaged in peaceful, non-violent protest. The
appropriate and legal response to potential and actual violence is to guarantee
an adequate police presence and to arrest any protestors who engage in violent
conduct. (Collins v. Jordan, 9th Cir. 1997). The recent killing of a
protestor is an inevitable consequence of the use of "collective
punishment" by police against large numbers of political demonstrators, rather
than enforcement of the law while protecting the right to speak as the
Constitution demands. In the United States, this collective punishment has
thus far taken the form of chemical weapons and less-lethal rounds fired into
crowds; but anything that causes someone to fear engaging in speech because of
possible punishment for someone else's acts is profoundly dangerous to the
proper functioning of any democracy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The suppression of legitimate First Amendment
activities by legions of police and government agents suited in riot gear and
engaging in para-military tactics not only has a terrifying effect on
demonstrators but also perpetuates an atmosphere of violence. Such tactics
are self-defeating in that they not only frighten protestors, but also make
young and inexperienced police officers more nervous, the likely result being
the loss of human life.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Guild has documented an escalation in police
violence and unconstitutional tactics, and has filed suit against the following
unconstitutional acts by government in mass demonstrations since
1999:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Indiscriminate use of excessive force including
pain compliance holds, the use of pepper spray, tear gas and concussion
grenades, and the firing of rubber bullets against hundreds of peaceful
protestors at the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) protests in Seattle, and
documented detention of protestors without access to counsel, in violation of
the Sixth Amendment, and without prompt processing for bail </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> "Preemptive strikes" including unjust and
pre-textual arrests by police at the World Bank/International Monetary Fund
(IMF) protests in April 2000 in Washington D.C. in which police raided people's
homes in the middle of the night, arrested suspected protest 'leaders' and
detained them overnight with no probable cause, and shut down a central meeting
place while confiscating literature, signs and banners--materials clearly
protected by the First Amendment--as well as medical supplies.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Creation of a chilling effect, at all of these
major demonstrations, on the expression of political views by closing streets
and public sidewalks and making them open only to people with acceptable
identification. Police stood on rooftops with video cameras and officers
wandered the area taking still photographs and videos of people in the areas,
even those not attempting to enter police restricted zones. Anyone wearing
buttons or carryings signs were given especially close scrutiny.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Criminalization of lawful dissent at the
Republican National Convention in Philadelphia in August 2000 by threatening
peaceful protestors with prosecution for conspiracy and terrorism to impact
other legitimate First Amendment activities; mistreatment of arrested protestors
by hog-tying rather than handcuffing, denying medications, food and water in an
effort to demoralize the group's efforts to maintain jail solidarity; charging
protestors engaged in non-violent civil disobedience with misdemeanor offenses,
a deviation from the traditional practice of charging such activity as a summary
offense entailing no incarceration; and, setting excessive and extraordinary
bail of $1 million for misdemeanors.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The National Lawyers Guild has been in the service
of political activists for over sixty years, offering legal advice and pursuing
litigation when necessary. "The Constitution cannot be suspended during
mass demonstrations," said NLG executive director Heidi Boghosian. "The
Guild will continue to work to ensure that people continue to own the public
spaces in this country and continue to have the right to express their political
views."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT face=Arial size=2>-30-</FONT></DIV>
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