Thanks to all of you for the tremendous outpouring of support you sent over the last few days. I shared your words with our climbing team when they got out of jail and they were happy to know that so many people believed in our message and stood with us.
An update:
All of our climbers and spotters were released on personal recogniznance (no bail) on Friday after the prosecution asked for $2,000 in bail apiece and charged them with two felonies (the most serious carrying a maximum sentence of 25 years) and two misdemeanors. The felony counts stem from the injury (a cut leg requiring stitches) a member of the NYPD suffered during the arrest. We were glad the injuries to the officer were minor and are hopeful that we will ultimately defeat these charges. More on this below for those who want the details.
Mayor Bloomberg called our action an "outrage" and labeled it an act of violence. He also called for our media spokesperson, Evan Thies, to be fired from his job with the City Council. Evan was arrested after giving his press briefing and ultimately charged with fourth degree facilitation of a criminal act - make of that what you will.
Despite the city's attempts at stifling Operation Sybil's message, our banner was viewed by millions worldwide, picked up by ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates across the country, NPR, TV stations in England, France, Italy, and New Zealand, and by bloggers everywhere. It ran as a graphic on Face the Nation, was copied onto signs in the UFPJ march on Sunday, and ran as a photo attached to an AP story in newspapers across the country on Saturday. The New York Times ran two stories on our action, the second focusing some attention on the treatment our non-violent climbers received at the hands of the police once they were put in jail. USAToday, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN also reported our action to their enormous national audiences.
Operation Sybil was a big success by any measure. Our message urging America to defeat Bush and end the systematic deception and misleading of America framed the protests that have followed and set the tone for a peaceful week of dissent. America Coming Together is using our banner on its homepage - http://actforvictory.org/ - an idicator of how it has been absorbed by mainstream politics as a powerful statement about the direction of our nation.
We are, however, deeply in debt as a group and as individuals as a result of our action. We spent our own money in the hope that once the value of the project was obvious, our friends would rally to support it. And so I humbly ask that those of you who are able send along what you can in order to help us pay our legal fees and fines and cover the costs of the climbing equipment and material now being held as police evidence.
If you are able, send a check payable to Operation Sybil to:
Operation Sybil c/o Gerald Lefcourt, P.C. 148 E. 78th Street New York, NY 10021
We appreciate any level of support you can offer.
If you lack the funds, we still appreciate your support and applaud your willingness to confront the administration's record of incompetence and cover-ups. See you at the victory party on November 3!
All the best, Reuben
P.S. More on the charges: The first officer on the roof of the Plaza received a warning by one of our spotters, who was there partly to insure the safety of hotel security and the police. The warning (in part) told him that the roof was unsafe, that he should call for the Emergency Services Unit, and that the skylights in particular were dangerous, since one of them was cracked. The officer then put his foot through the same cracked skylight, apparently ignoring her warning. The spotter in question is studying to be a Unitarian Minister at the UC Berkeley Seminary. The claim by the city is that she (and all of her co-actors) recklessly endangered the life of the officer by showing wanton indifference toward it, thus making them responsible for the injury that took place.
P.P.S. Again - please forward this along!
P.P.P.S. Again, the photos followed by some of our best links:
http://www.questionauthority.org/nycplazaaction
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/27611.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/27/politics/campaign/27protest.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/gopcon/wabc_082704_weeklongprotests.html#
"Well behaved women rarely make history."
-- Anais Nin
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