G8 Trials continue in US from 2005 protest
tristan | 03.08.2006 17:25 | G8 2005 | Globalisation
On july 8, 2005 while the G8 was meeting in Scotland a demonstration was held in San Francisco. Now one defendant is to go on trial while another sits in jail for refusing to turn over video footage.
Last year I attended the G8 protests in Scotland. There were many arrests but eventually most people got off (I think). However that has not been the case here in San Francisco. While the G8 was in Scotland a small protest was held. Riot police broke it up. But people re-gathered and a few windows of banks were broken. One cop car with two cops pulled up. The cops jumped out and grabbed Gabe Meyers and choked him on the ground. The other cop began to hit another protestor repeatedly with his baton. Another individual hit that cop in the head. The police want to find that person but they have no leads. Meanwhile Gabe has been scapegoated and is charged with serious crimes and an independent journalist, Josh Wolf, has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. Grand Juries are a tactic of the government to force people who are not accused of crimes to testify. Josh has refused to testify or provide his video footage of the event and has been sent to jail until he does. Gabe’s case has finally come to trial starting August 5 (Friday).
Tristan
Here is some more information:
For Immediate Release: August 1, 2006
Grand Jury Resistance Project
Contact: Kris Hermes 510-836-0395
http://www.FBIWitchHunt.com / http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury
Independent Journalist Jailed for Resisting Grand Jury Subpoena
Federal judge denies constitutional arguments -- incarceration based on non-existent damage to SFPD vehicle
San Francisco -- Independent journalist Josh Wolf was jailed today for refusing to provide video footage to a federal grand jury convened in January. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup denied Wolf's First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment arguments, found him in civil contempt, and ordered him immediately jailed. Wolf, 24, was taken to the Dublin federal detention center, and could remain there until July 2007, for the duration of the grand jury.
Wolf was present at, and reporting on, a protest on July 8, 2005, in the Mission district against the Group of 8 (G8), meeting in Scotland at the time. Numerous witnesses at the demonstration reported that a police vehicle was driven into the crowd of protesters. This action was followed by two police officers exiting the vehicle and violently assaulting multiple people on the street. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Finigan is supposedly seeking video footage for what the government claims is attempted arson on a San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) vehicle. However, no damage has ever been reported by SFPD.
"It's outrageous that the court is compelled to jail someone, let alone a journalist, over an incident that involved no property damage or harm to anyone," said Kris Hermes of the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a coalition in support of Wolf and activists being harassed by the government. "Wolf's incarceration has an undeniable chilling effect on his work, the work of other journalists, and people wanting to speak out against U.S. policies."
Activists and Lawyers supporting Wolf have contended that this grand jury is an attempt to avoid California’s strict Reporter Shield Law, which protects journalists’ files and notes. "Local police could be investigating this incident, but they're not," continued Hermes. "The federal government absurdly asserts that this incident rises to the level of a federal crime because SFPD receives federal funds." Although similar shield laws exist in a majority of the state, no federal shield law exists to protect reporters.
At the close of today's hearing, Judge Alsup abruptly denied Wolf's request for bail. Alsup also denied a motion by Wolf's attorney, Jose Luis Fuentes, to stay the incarceration until an attempt to overturn the contempt ruling could be heard by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Later in the day, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors were due to vote on a resolution introduced by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Tom Ammiano aimed at “resisting the federal government’s intervention in the City and County of San Francisco’s investigation of the July 8th, 2005 G-8 protest and expressing support for the California Shield Law.” The Supervisors charge that the grand jury is an “attempt to circumvent the local judicial system,” and they opposed federal government intervention in this matter. The resolution was sent to committee and will be heard within the next two weeks.
Wolf’s experience with the federal government and this grand jury is not isolated, and comes as dozens of journalists and activists across the country are being threatened with indictments and jail time. “The U.S. government’s harassment of Josh Wolf is part of a broader, renewed use of the federal grand jury to suppress dissent,” said Samantha Levens of the GJRP. In May, Jeff Hogg, a full-time nursing student who works with developmentally disabled adults in Eugene, Oregon, was jailed for refusing to comply with a federal grand jury investigating environmental and animal rights activists. In San Francisco, a federal grand jury has recently been reconvened to investigate the animal liberation movement. Many activists refused to testify for the previous grand jury that expired in May. However, new subpoenas to appear in August have been served on multiple animal rights activists.
Information compiled by the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a coalition that provides education on politically motivated attacks by government and support to people targeted by these attacks, shows that grand juries are currently being used against environmental and animal rights activists, as well as groups that have historically struggled for self-determination. The GJRP reports that in the past year, at least 66 individuals have been subpoenaed and/or indicted in Atlanta, Denver, Eugene, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Tampa, FL, and Trenton, NJ. At least fourteen people have refused to testify, and some were jailed for contempt. In an affidavit filed in connection with the indictment of three environmental activists in Auburn, CA, the FBI irrelevantly referenced “anarchists” and “anarchism” 26 times. GJRP believes that the grand jury to which Josh Wolf has been subpoenaed is part of the same broad and unconstitutional federal investigation into anarchist and antiwar activity and other political movements that oppose U.S. policies.
For further information on Josh Wolf and his case: http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury
Wednesday Aug 2nd, 2006 11:12 AM
Guardian UK
Wednesday August 2 2006
And so it came to pass... The forecast in a posting below, Journalist facing jail over video of protest, came true and young Josh Wolf was marched off to the slammer from a San Francisco court. The judge told him that there is no federal law shielding journalists from participating in grand jury investigations. He agreed with prosecutors who want Wolf to hand over his video footage of a violent anti-G8 demonstration, which he refuses to do. The judge said he wasn't jailing Wolf to punish him but to change his mind. Wolf could remain in jail until next summer, when the grand jury investigating the incident is due to expire.
Journalist Jailed Over Protest Footage
Freelance Video Journalist in S.F. Jailed for Refusing to Give Grand Jury Protest Footage
By DAVID KRAVETS
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A freelance video journalist was jailed Tuesday for refusing to give a grand jury his unsold footage from a 2005 protest in which anarchists were suspected of vandalizing a police car.
Joshua Wolf, 24, could remain behind bars until next summer, when the grand jury investigating the incident is due to expire.
Wolf had sold footage of the protest to San Francisco television stations and posted it on his Web site. Investigators are seeking portions of his videotape that haven't been broadcast.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said there is no federal law shielding journalists from participating in grand jury investigations. The judge sided with prosecutors who suspect the footage may reveal who was behind the melee, part of an anarchist-led protest over the G-8 international economic conference last year in Scotland. A San Francisco police officer also was injured.
"This is direct evidence of what happened," Alsup said.
Alsup said he wasn't jailing Wolf to punish him. "The purpose of this is to get you to change your mind," the judge said as U.S. marshals removed Wolf from the courtroom.
Wolf's lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes, said that relinquishing the footage to a grand jury would be tantamount to his client becoming "an arm of the government." Because of the subpoena, Fuentes said, the underground groups Wolf chronicles are denying him access
Long interview with josh before jail: http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/19/18289637.php
Gabe Meyers on trial for G8 protest
In July of 2005, Gabriel Meyers was arrested at an anti-G8 solidarity demonstration in San Francisco. During the protest a police officer with the SFPD was struck on the head and injured by a protestor. Still till this day the police have not caught the individual who is responsible for the attack. In the aftermath of the protest, a photo appeared on indybay.org of Gabe in a suffocating chokehold by an SFPD officer, the partner of the injured cop. Despite the photo, Gabe is being charged with a felony of lynching himself. The officer, who is pictured choking Gabe, is still walking the beat a year later.
He is going to begin his trial for "lynching himself." Lynching by law means to take someone out of custody of the police or sheriff by means of force of riot. Gabe is being charged with attempt of this on himself for allegedly saying 'help me' to a crowd while in a chokehold on the ground. He is really just being scapegoated because neither the cops nor the feds caught the person who did it. Gabe is asking for people to come support him during his trial on Aug 4.
On August 4th, Gabriel Meyers is scheduled begin his trial.
COME DOWN AND SUPPORT GABE MEYERS AS HE FIGHTS THE ABSURD CHARGES AGASINT HIM.
THE TRIAL WILL BE HELD AT SF SUPERIOR COURTHOUSE ON 850 BRYANT STREET IN SAN
FRANCISCO AT 9AM IN DEPARTMENT 22.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY.
For more on Gabe see: http://indybay.org/globalization/ part way down the page
Tristan
Here is some more information:
For Immediate Release: August 1, 2006
Grand Jury Resistance Project
Contact: Kris Hermes 510-836-0395
http://www.FBIWitchHunt.com / http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury Independent Journalist Jailed for Resisting Grand Jury Subpoena
Federal judge denies constitutional arguments -- incarceration based on non-existent damage to SFPD vehicle
San Francisco -- Independent journalist Josh Wolf was jailed today for refusing to provide video footage to a federal grand jury convened in January. U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup denied Wolf's First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment arguments, found him in civil contempt, and ordered him immediately jailed. Wolf, 24, was taken to the Dublin federal detention center, and could remain there until July 2007, for the duration of the grand jury.
Wolf was present at, and reporting on, a protest on July 8, 2005, in the Mission district against the Group of 8 (G8), meeting in Scotland at the time. Numerous witnesses at the demonstration reported that a police vehicle was driven into the crowd of protesters. This action was followed by two police officers exiting the vehicle and violently assaulting multiple people on the street. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Finigan is supposedly seeking video footage for what the government claims is attempted arson on a San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) vehicle. However, no damage has ever been reported by SFPD.
"It's outrageous that the court is compelled to jail someone, let alone a journalist, over an incident that involved no property damage or harm to anyone," said Kris Hermes of the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a coalition in support of Wolf and activists being harassed by the government. "Wolf's incarceration has an undeniable chilling effect on his work, the work of other journalists, and people wanting to speak out against U.S. policies."
Activists and Lawyers supporting Wolf have contended that this grand jury is an attempt to avoid California’s strict Reporter Shield Law, which protects journalists’ files and notes. "Local police could be investigating this incident, but they're not," continued Hermes. "The federal government absurdly asserts that this incident rises to the level of a federal crime because SFPD receives federal funds." Although similar shield laws exist in a majority of the state, no federal shield law exists to protect reporters.
At the close of today's hearing, Judge Alsup abruptly denied Wolf's request for bail. Alsup also denied a motion by Wolf's attorney, Jose Luis Fuentes, to stay the incarceration until an attempt to overturn the contempt ruling could be heard by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Later in the day, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors were due to vote on a resolution introduced by Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Tom Ammiano aimed at “resisting the federal government’s intervention in the City and County of San Francisco’s investigation of the July 8th, 2005 G-8 protest and expressing support for the California Shield Law.” The Supervisors charge that the grand jury is an “attempt to circumvent the local judicial system,” and they opposed federal government intervention in this matter. The resolution was sent to committee and will be heard within the next two weeks.
Wolf’s experience with the federal government and this grand jury is not isolated, and comes as dozens of journalists and activists across the country are being threatened with indictments and jail time. “The U.S. government’s harassment of Josh Wolf is part of a broader, renewed use of the federal grand jury to suppress dissent,” said Samantha Levens of the GJRP. In May, Jeff Hogg, a full-time nursing student who works with developmentally disabled adults in Eugene, Oregon, was jailed for refusing to comply with a federal grand jury investigating environmental and animal rights activists. In San Francisco, a federal grand jury has recently been reconvened to investigate the animal liberation movement. Many activists refused to testify for the previous grand jury that expired in May. However, new subpoenas to appear in August have been served on multiple animal rights activists.
Information compiled by the Grand Jury Resistance Project (GJRP), a coalition that provides education on politically motivated attacks by government and support to people targeted by these attacks, shows that grand juries are currently being used against environmental and animal rights activists, as well as groups that have historically struggled for self-determination. The GJRP reports that in the past year, at least 66 individuals have been subpoenaed and/or indicted in Atlanta, Denver, Eugene, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, Tampa, FL, and Trenton, NJ. At least fourteen people have refused to testify, and some were jailed for contempt. In an affidavit filed in connection with the indictment of three environmental activists in Auburn, CA, the FBI irrelevantly referenced “anarchists” and “anarchism” 26 times. GJRP believes that the grand jury to which Josh Wolf has been subpoenaed is part of the same broad and unconstitutional federal investigation into anarchist and antiwar activity and other political movements that oppose U.S. policies.
For further information on Josh Wolf and his case:
http://www.joshwolf.net/grandjury Wednesday Aug 2nd, 2006 11:12 AM
Guardian UK
Wednesday August 2 2006
And so it came to pass... The forecast in a posting below, Journalist facing jail over video of protest, came true and young Josh Wolf was marched off to the slammer from a San Francisco court. The judge told him that there is no federal law shielding journalists from participating in grand jury investigations. He agreed with prosecutors who want Wolf to hand over his video footage of a violent anti-G8 demonstration, which he refuses to do. The judge said he wasn't jailing Wolf to punish him but to change his mind. Wolf could remain in jail until next summer, when the grand jury investigating the incident is due to expire.
Journalist Jailed Over Protest Footage
Freelance Video Journalist in S.F. Jailed for Refusing to Give Grand Jury Protest Footage
By DAVID KRAVETS
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A freelance video journalist was jailed Tuesday for refusing to give a grand jury his unsold footage from a 2005 protest in which anarchists were suspected of vandalizing a police car.
Joshua Wolf, 24, could remain behind bars until next summer, when the grand jury investigating the incident is due to expire.
Wolf had sold footage of the protest to San Francisco television stations and posted it on his Web site. Investigators are seeking portions of his videotape that haven't been broadcast.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said there is no federal law shielding journalists from participating in grand jury investigations. The judge sided with prosecutors who suspect the footage may reveal who was behind the melee, part of an anarchist-led protest over the G-8 international economic conference last year in Scotland. A San Francisco police officer also was injured.
"This is direct evidence of what happened," Alsup said.
Alsup said he wasn't jailing Wolf to punish him. "The purpose of this is to get you to change your mind," the judge said as U.S. marshals removed Wolf from the courtroom.
Wolf's lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes, said that relinquishing the footage to a grand jury would be tantamount to his client becoming "an arm of the government." Because of the subpoena, Fuentes said, the underground groups Wolf chronicles are denying him access
Long interview with josh before jail:
http://indybay.org/newsitems/2006/07/19/18289637.php Gabe Meyers on trial for G8 protest
In July of 2005, Gabriel Meyers was arrested at an anti-G8 solidarity demonstration in San Francisco. During the protest a police officer with the SFPD was struck on the head and injured by a protestor. Still till this day the police have not caught the individual who is responsible for the attack. In the aftermath of the protest, a photo appeared on indybay.org of Gabe in a suffocating chokehold by an SFPD officer, the partner of the injured cop. Despite the photo, Gabe is being charged with a felony of lynching himself. The officer, who is pictured choking Gabe, is still walking the beat a year later.
He is going to begin his trial for "lynching himself." Lynching by law means to take someone out of custody of the police or sheriff by means of force of riot. Gabe is being charged with attempt of this on himself for allegedly saying 'help me' to a crowd while in a chokehold on the ground. He is really just being scapegoated because neither the cops nor the feds caught the person who did it. Gabe is asking for people to come support him during his trial on Aug 4.
On August 4th, Gabriel Meyers is scheduled begin his trial.
COME DOWN AND SUPPORT GABE MEYERS AS HE FIGHTS THE ABSURD CHARGES AGASINT HIM.
THE TRIAL WILL BE HELD AT SF SUPERIOR COURTHOUSE ON 850 BRYANT STREET IN SAN
FRANCISCO AT 9AM IN DEPARTMENT 22.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND SOLIDARITY.
For more on Gabe see:
http://indybay.org/globalization/ part way down the page
tristan
