Friday, April 27, 2001 ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! THE PHILADELPHIA POLICE WANT TO STOP CAMP FREE MUMIA! BUT THEY CAN'T STOP US - IF WE FIGHT BACK! Once again we find that in order for us to fight for Mumia Abu-Jamal's right to justice, we must fight for the free speech rights of his supporters. After agreeing to grant permits for our round the clock encampment in front of Philadelphia's City Hall over the weekend of May 11-13, police and government officials informed encampment organizers at a meeting on Thursday, April 26, that they were reversing their position and denying the permits. Encampment representatives attending this April 26th meeting included the International Action Center and International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. We have 100% expectation that this illegal attempt to deny our free speech rights will be overcome and that our encampment will proceed as planned. Representatives of Philadelphia Mayor John Street, the police and other city agencies refused to provide in writing a reason for their sudden, arbitrary reversal of an earlier agreement to permit the protest to continue through the night. Just eight months ago, the right wing Republican supporters of George Bush and the death penalty were given permits to set up tents for 24 hours daily as they had the run of the city for six full days during the 2000 Republican convention. At the April 26 meeting, encampment organizers told city officials that the permit denial was totally unacceptable, and that the planning for the May 11 through May 13 encampment would continue while we took our fight for a permit into court. Lawyers have advised us that we have a strong, winnable legal case. The legal action we are preparing against the city of Philadelphia and the police must be supplemented by the support activities of all those who want to defend the first amendment. We must let the mayor and the Philadelphia police know that people from the city, around the country and the world demand the right to protest in front of City Hall overnight. The real reason that the police and city officials don't want the overnight protest is because they realize that it will draw attention to Mumia's case and the injustices that his case has come to symbolize for others in prison and on death row. We can not allow the police to suppress our right to protest. If we fight this battle together, we will win it. We urge everyone who supports Camp Free Mumia to: Call Mayor Street at 215-686-2181. You can also fax a letter to Mayor John Street at 215-686-2180 demanding that he permit protesters to stay in front of City Hall over the nights of Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12. If you plan to attend any part of the weekend of protest, including the hip hop concert on Friday night, the protest over one or both nights, and the rally and march on Saturday May 12, as well as the tribute to the victims of the MOVE bombing, tell Mayor Street in your letter that you and/or your group plan to attend. International organizations are also urged to send messages of solidarity. Send copies of your letter to the media in your area. Send a copy of your letter to us at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or/and [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Copies of your letters will be forwarded to International Concerned Families and Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal.) International Action Center 39 West 14th Street, Room 206 New York, NY 10011 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.iacenter.org http://www.mumia2000.org phone: 212 633-6646 fax: 212 633-2889 ------------------ Send replies to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
