Also, This is an update on the FTAA protest in Miami. NLG lawyers
along with other groups have filed suit against the city government for
the handling of the protest. It is pretty interesting.
jessie
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
Date: Friday, March 26, 2004 2:26 PM -0800
From: Alan Graf <peopleslawyer-r9/a4iiAUwJeoWH0uzbU5w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Amy Van Horn <avhpeopleslawyer-r9/a4iiAUwJeoWH0uzbU5w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Steven Sherlag
<ssherlag-vY9khmS6HdBt1OO0OYaSVA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Liz Joffe <ljoffe@xxxxxxxxxx>, Alan Graf
<peopleslawyer-r9/a4iiAUwJeoWH0uzbU5w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Aaron Varhola <avarhola@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Aaron
Varhola <avarhola-V3qp+C2XFjRzu6KWmfFNGwC/G2K4zDHf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Larry Hildes
<lhildes-ihVZJaRskl1bRRN4PJnoQQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, nlg-list@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Fw: [NLGMassDefense] Miami lawsuit press release
Alan Graf
Thanks once again to our amazing NLG members bringing this case.
Zak
----------
For Immediate Release: March 25th, 2004
Contact: Carol Sobel, NLG Attorney 310-922-7001
Robert Ross, MAD & NLG Attorney 561-251-4896
Kris Hermes, Miami Activist Defense 504-945-9716
Federal lawsuit challenges the "Miami Model" and hundreds of
FTAA-related criminal cases
Miami Activist Defense (MAD) and National Lawyers Guild (NLG) attorneys
filed a lawsuit in federal court today accusing the City of Miami,
Mayors Diaz and Penelas, Police Chief Timoney, Homeland Defense
Secretary Ridge, US Attorney General Ashcroft and others of violating
people's Constitutional Rights during last November's FTAA protests and
implementing a plan to unlawfully arrest hundreds of people.
Miami, FL - A civil lawsuit was filed today in federal court
challenging the "Miami model," a deliberate and coordinated effort by
local, state and federal "authorities" to silence dissent through an
unwarranted use of force and by unlawfully arresting hundreds of people
engaging in protests against a controversial trade agreement, the Free
Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Attorneys working with Miami
Activist Defense (MAD) and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) filed the
lawsuit to stop the "model" in its tracks so that it can no longer be
used to restrict mass protests around the country.
The Defendants named in the lawsuit, accused of First, Fourth, and
Fifth Amendment Rights violations, include the City of Miami, Mayors
Manny Diaz and Alex Penelas, Police Chief John Timoney, State Attorney
Katherine Fernandez-Rundle, Secretary of Homeland Defense Tom Ridge, US
Attorney General John Ashcroft. The lawsuit explains how these entities
and others engaged in an orchestrated plan to arrest people on baseless
charges and to hold them in preventive detention thereby prohibiting
First Amendment activity and violating the Fifth Amendment right to due
process.
"This lawsuit blows open the unlawful way in which police profiled and
targeted activists and people who were in Miami to protest the FTAA,"
said Carol Sobel, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild Mass
Defense Committee. "Anyone who fit the police description of being
anti-FTAA was subject to harassment, abuse, and unlawful arrest."
The lawsuit states that it "challenge[s] the mass false arrests of, and
unreasonable force against, lawful demonstrators during the recent
protests of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) in November 2003
in Miami." It also conveys how "Law enforcement coordinated an all out
assault on the First Amendment, engaging in widespread political
profiling, and swept the streets of anyone viewed as being an anti-FTAA
activist, effectively suspending the Fourth Amendment in the city for
ten days."
The lawsuit challenges the local and state statutes used to arrest
hundreds of people as unconstitutional, as well as the way in which
they were used to illegally stifle mass protest. In essence, the
lawsuit challenges the legal justification for, and validity of, the
hundreds of arrests that took place during the FTAA.
"Every FTAA-related criminal case currently being prosecuted by the
State Attorney is a sham," said Kris Hermes of MAD. "It's time to stop
maliciously prosecuting people for their involvement in the FTAA
protests. Taxpayer money could certainly be put to better use."
Despite the millions of federal dollars used to implement the
coordinated campaign by law enforcement, illustrated in the lawsuit,
and the continuing expenditure to try cases, the State Attorney's
fervent efforts have yet to result in more than one misdemeanor
conviction. Less than half of the over two hundred cases remain.
The plaintiff group currently consists of 21 people, but is likely to
increase as more allegations become known and are added to the suit.
Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief as well as financial damages
due to the numerous rights violations.
Counsel for the plaintiffs includes: Carol Sobel, Jonathan Moore, Mara
Verheyden-Hilliard, Carl Messineo of the NLG Mass Defense Committee;
Andrea Costello and Robert Ross are working with both MAD and the NLG
For an on-line version of the complaint filed in federal court today
see: www.stopftaa.org/legal --030--
For more information about the National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense
Committee visit our website at: www.nlg.org
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