Support the Love Park 4: Anti-Racists Face Serious Legal Battle in Philly

north america / mexico | repression / prisoners | news report Thursday July 26, 2007 07:17 by Anti-Racist Action philly_ara at yahoo dot com

Update and Plea for Legal Funds

On Monday July 23rd, four anti-fascists from the Philadelphia, PA area were arrested at what was supposed to be a Ku Klux Klan rally in Center City Philadelphia. Jared Schultz, Tom Keenan, Jason Robbins - all of Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action - and Jim McGovern - of the Progressive Labor Party - were all arrested and charged with a series of trumped up misdemeanors in a situation that - for all practical purposes - was straight up entrapment.

On Monday July 23rd, four anti-fascists from the Philadelphia, PA area
were arrested at what was supposed to be a Ku Klux Klan rally in Center
City Philadelphia. Jared Schultz, Tom Keenan, Jason Robbins - all of
Philadelphia Anti-Racist Action - and Jim McGovern - of the Progressive
Labor Party - were all arrested and charged with a series of trumped up
misdemeanors in a situation that - for all practical purposes - was
straight up entrapment.

Rumors spread through Philadelphia starting Friday July 20th that the Ku
Klux Klan was supposed to show up for an 11AM rally on Monday at Love
Park. While anti-fascists were present in the area starting at 10:30AM, no
racists showed up for the rally until noon when two men wearing what
appeared to be neo-Nazi t-shirts showed up in the area. Anti-fascists
approached the men, confirmed they were neo-Nazis and told them to leave.
Words were exchanged between the Klansmen and the anti-fascists, and then
the neo-Nazis said they were leaving. The anti-fascists then followed
behind them to make sure that they kept their promise.

Strangely, Civil Affairs cops remained on the other side of the park the
entire time and made no efforts to follow the group even when they were
out of their sight. The boneheads got into an SUV around the corner and
were driven away. As they attempted to drive off, conveniently blocked by
traffic, a verbal confrontation ensued with the anti-fascists lasting
several minutes before a window of the SUV was smashed. The driver – who
could have flashed his badge at anytime to disperse the crowd - then
ordered Schultz, Keenan, Robbins and McGovern against the wall.

While the arresting officer was a Philadelphia Police Department
detective, the SUV was, according to paperwork received by the arrestees,
the vehicle of FBI Special Agent Sean Brennan, also present during the
arrests. What an FBI agent was doing escorting neo-Nazis away from the
park remains a total mystery.

After the arrests, all four of the anti-fascists were transported to the
9th Police Precinct where they remained for approximately 27 hours
awaiting notice of their charges and bail amounts.

Initially, the arrestees were informed that for some odd reason, Internal
Affairs was investigating their case and that they would be facing 10
charges - 4 felonies and 6 misdemeanors. In the end, however, all of the
felonies were dropped, leaving the arrestees with 8 misdemeanor charges of
varying degrees upon being bailed out. The fact that the charges were
dropped so quickly proves just how trumped up these charges are. However
there's still a lot at stake for The Love Park 4.

Currently, everyone is facing the same 8 charges - Possession of an
Instrument of Crime With Intent, Criminal Conspiracy Engaging with
Possession of Instrument of Crime with Intent, Institutional
Vandalism/Illegal Possession, Reckless Endangering Another Person,
Resisting Arrest, Criminal Mischief, Harassment - Subject Other to
Physical Contact, and Disorderly Conduct/Grading.

At this point, everyone is out of jail, doing fine and just taking some
time to relax for a few days before what could be a lengthy and expensive
legal ordeal. All of the defendants are scheduled for court on October
3rd, and are in the process of establishing a legal defense fund and
securing legal counsel.

We are confident that with the right resources, all of the anti-fascists
arrested will be able to defeat these outrageous charges which could
result in tens of thousands of dollars in fines and years of jail time

*But we sure can't go it alone*

We need the resources to win this legal battle and you can help right now!

Simply go to http://www.paypal.com, click on the "send money" tab and make
a donation to cyndipitt@gmail.com. If you wish to send funds through the
mail a check or well concealed cash to

Heartsville Community Space
PO Box 5917
Philadelphia, PA 19137.

Make sure to note that it is for The Love Park 4.

Write to philly_ara@yahoo.com to receive updates on how you can lend a
hand. They'll be plenty of work to do.

GIVE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING: SOLIDARITY!