>New York Civil Liberties Union
>125 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004
>www.nyclu.org
>
>NYCLU Releases RNC Documents City Tried to Conceal
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>February 21, 2007 -- After a federal judge last month ruled that New
>York City could stop the New York Civil Liberties Union from sharing
>with the public reams of documents and dozens of hours of video about
>the NYPD's policing of the 2004 Republican National Convention, the
>NYCLU today made those documents available to the public by posting
>them on its website at <http://www.nyclu.org/rncdocs>.
>
>The judge's ruling came in litigation filed by the New York Civil
>Liberties Union. The NYCLU's two post-RNC lawsuits challenge mass
>arrests and detentions during the 2004 Republican National
>Convention. The documents and videos were obtained by the NYCLU in
>pre-trial discovery. New York City said the documents in question
>were secret and could not be shared; the NYCLU countered that there
>was nothing sensitive about the documents and that they should be
>part of the public record. The judge, James C. Francis IV, ruled on
>the side of the NYCLU. The City did not appeal.
>
>The documents illuminate the policing of the Convention. Highlights
>include:
>
>- The Pier 57 NYPD Officer Medical Reports, which were filed with the
>NYPD's own medical division by 40 of the NYPD's own officers. NYPD
>complainants (whose names are redacted) report that they were exposed
>to various harmful substances - including asbestos, carbon monoxide,
>unidentified fumes, and an unidentified black liquid - while assigned
>to Pier 57 during the Convention. The reports indicate that
>protesters' concerns about conditions of detention at Pier 57 were
>shared by the officers assigned to the area.
>
>- The RNC No-Summons Memo of May 4, 2004, which announces that NYPD
>officers would not give summonses to protestors during the
>Convention, instead arresting and fingerprinting them. This policy
>caused lengthy detentions of demonstrators; without it, 1500 of the
>1800 arrestees would have been eligible for summons and quick release.
>
>- The RNC Arrest-to-Arraignment Charts, which show that RNC arrestees
>were arraigned much more slowly than non-RNC arrestees during the
>week of the Convention. The charts raise troubling questions as to
>why protesters arrested for minor offenses were being held much
>longer than people arrested for serious crimes during the Convention.
>
>"The public has a right to see these documents," said NYCLU Director
>Donna Lieberman. "The court recognized that democracy dies behind
>closed doors, and today we carry out that court's mandate to keep it
>alive."
>
>The documents are organized on the NYCLU's website at the dedicated
>page www.nyclu.org/rncdocs. The NYCLU intends to place the videos
>online as soon as possible.
>
>- xxx -
>
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk