http://www.noborder.org
 info@noborder.org

WED 1 AUG 2001

FREE THE PUBLIX THEATRE CARAVAN!

On Monday July 24, the Publix Theatre Caravan, an international
multimedia performance group was stopped by police in Recco, a small
city near Genoa. 25 persons from Australia, Germany, Austria, Sweden,
Slovakia and the US were arrested.

For several weeks the Publix Theatre Caravan was travelling along and
across borders: From refugee camps to nobordercamps and counter-summits.
Artists, actors and experimental theatre activists staged performances,
played music and shot videos. On leaving Genoa the Publix Theatre
Caravan on their way to the nobordercamp in Frankfurt was stopped and
arrested by italian police. At the moment they are held in imprisonment
on remand, awaiting a trail within the next six months.

The accusations levelled against them are as absurd as they could
possibly be: The artist group is accused of vandalism and endangering
public safety. The court acts on the assumption that the Publix Theatre
Caravan is the core of a so called "black bloc"!

Not only do we worry about reported and confirmed violations of basic
human rights. But we also suspect, that it did not happen by accident,
that a group of artists and independent media activists is purposely
being targeted as a scapegoat for the violence in Genoa.

We urgently demand the immediate release of the participants of the
Publix Theatre Caravan!

Please spread widely information about the fate of participants of the
Publix Theatre Caravan! Sign this statement! Create, upload and download
banners! Link to the websites and disseminate the content and the work
of the Publix Theatre Caravan! Police forces may be able to arrest
individuals, but they can not break down the resistance of the
multitudes.


Helpful links:

[publix theatre caravan]
 http://www.no-racism.net/nobordertour/index_uk.html

[sign the "free publix theatre caravan call"]
 http://www.noborder.org/noprison.html

[download the banner]
 http://www.noborder.org/images/noprison.gif

[streaming video from the caravan]
 http://www.noborder.org/camps/slo/video.html

[noborder network]
 http://www.noborder.org