[Peace-discussion] CIVIL DISOBEDIANCE ACTION PROTESTERS BEING CHARGED WITH

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:05:44 -0500

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

------=_NextPart_000_018C_01C890FE.57964D20
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
	boundary="----=_NextPart_001_018D_01C890FE.57964D20"

------=_NextPart_001_018D_01C890FE.57964D20
Content-Type: text/plain;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Thank You Les!

What can we in the GP do to help?

Peace,

joni LeViness gpok delegate

CIVIL DISOBEDIANCE ACTION AT LAFITTE DEVELOPMENT

RESULTS IN PEACEFUL PROTESTERS BEING CHARGED WITH

TERRORISM.

MIKE HOWELLS

Supporters of the right to return and affordable

housing staged a Good Friday protest action at the

Lafitte Housing Development in defense of New Orleans

? besieged public housing. The protest action on the

corner of North Galvez Street and Orleans Avenue

attracted participants from May Day Nola, C3/Hands Off

Iberville, Common Ground, New Orleans public housing,

and Delgado Community College . A statement read on

behalf of May Day Nola demanded an immediate end to

the demolition of local public housing, the reopening

and reoccupation of all non-occupied public housing

units in the city and the immediate passage of Senate

Bill 1668. 

Mid-way through the protest three housing justice

activists-Jamie Laughner, Thomas McManus, Ezekiel

Compton-slipped below a barb wired fence, scaled the

metal grating of a two-story public housing apartment

building and situated themselves on the balcony of an

unoccupied apartment. From the balcony, the three

urged those at the rally below to pressure the U.S.

Senate to pass S.B. 1668. About an hour after the

occupation began the NOPD arrived. Police forced

protesters to move from the sidewalk closest to the

occupied apartment building to the island area about

fifty feet from the original sight of the protes t. 

About a half-hour later police arrested Laughner,

McManus and Compton. Police charged the three with

trespassing, resisting an officer, and unlawful entry

into a critical structure. The critical structure law

was enacted by the Louisiana legislature as a result

of political fallout from the September 11 terrorist

attacks. The violation of the anti-terrorist law is a

felony.

The day after the Good Friday action, the

Lafitte Three were arraigned in front of Orleans

Magistrate Marie Bookman in Orleans Parish Prison on

the charges noted above. Bookman slapped the three

with a maximum bond of $15,000 each. Bookman set

these sky high bails despite the fact that McManus and

Compton have no criminal record. When an attorney at

the hearing drew parallels between the protest

activity of the Lafitte Three and the protest

activity of Jesse Jackson, Bookman simply dismissed

the comparison out of hand. After the

hearing Laughner, McManus and Compton were returned to

their prison cells where they spent the remainder of 

Easter Weekend and the following two days. 

On Tuesday Criminal District Court Judge Frank

Marullo overruled Bookman?s bond decision and ordered

the Lafitte Three released on their own recognizance. 

Compton, Laughner and McManus still face the prospect

of being tried for a felony charge. The charge of

unlawful entry into a critical infrastructure against

three in effect amounts to an attempt by New Orleans

authorities to silence the public housing movement by

equating civil disobedience with terrorism. Those who

cherish democratic rights are urged to join the

struggle to stop the railroading of the Lafitte

Three.

A meeting to organize the wave of political

repression now underway in New Orleans will be held

7pm Thursday(3/27) at St. Jude?s Church. The meeting

will be held in Basin Hall in the Church at 410 Basin

St .

Les Evenchick

New Orleans 

piratefish@yahoo.com

------=_NextPart_001_018D_01C890FE.57964D20
Content-Type: text/html;
	charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE id=3DridTitle>Blank</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; =
charset=3Dus-ascii">
<STYLE>BODY {
	MARGIN-TOP: 25px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 25px; COLOR: #000000; =
FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica
}
P.msoNormal {
	MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; COLOR: #ffffcc; =
FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica, "Times New Roman"
}
LI.msoNormal {
	MARGIN-TOP: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0px; COLOR: #ffffcc; =
FONT-FAMILY: Helvetica, "Times New Roman"
}
</STYLE>

<META content=3D"MSHTML 6.00.6000.16608" name=3DGENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY id=3DridBody background=3Dcid:109090323@28032008-133D>
Thank You Les!
What can we in the GP do to =
help?
Peace,
joni LeViness gpok =
delegate
&nbsp;
CIVIL DISOBEDIANCE ACTION AT LAFITTE DEVELOPMENT
RESULTS IN PEACEFUL PROTESTERS BEING CHARGED WITH
TERRORISM.
MIKE HOWELLS


Supporters of the right to return and affordable
housing staged a Good Friday protest action at the
Lafitte Housing Development in defense of New Orleans
? besieged public housing. The protest action on the
corner of North Galvez Street and Orleans Avenue
attracted participants from May Day Nola, C3/Hands Off
Iberville, Common Ground, New Orleans public housing,
and Delgado Community College . A statement read on
behalf of May Day Nola demanded an immediate end to
the demolition of local public housing, the reopening
and reoccupation of all non-occupied public housing
units in the city and the immediate passage of Senate
Bill 1668. 

Mid-way through the protest three housing justice
activists-Jamie Laughner, Thomas McManus, Ezekiel
Compton-slipped below a barb wired fence, scaled the
metal grating of a two-story public housing apartment
building and situated themselves on the balcony of an
unoccupied apartment. From the balcony, the three
urged those at the rally below to pressure the U.S.
Senate to pass S.B. 1668. About an hour after the
occupation began the NOPD arrived. Police forced
protesters to move from the sidewalk closest to the
occupied apartment building to the island area about
fifty feet from the original sight of the protes t. 
About a half-hour later police arrested Laughner,
McManus and Compton. Police charged the three with
trespassing, resisting an officer, and unlawful entry
into a critical structure. The critical structure law
was enacted by the Louisiana legislature as a result
of political fallout from the September 11 terrorist
attacks. The violation of the anti-terrorist law is a
felony.

The day after the Good Friday action, the
Lafitte Three were arraigned in front of Orleans
Magistrate Marie Bookman in Orleans Parish Prison on
the charges noted above. Bookman slapped the three
with a maximum bond of $15,000 each. Bookman set
these sky high bails despite the fact that McManus and
Compton have no criminal record. When an attorney at
the hearing drew parallels between the protest
activity of the Lafitte Three and the protest
activity of Jesse Jackson, Bookman simply dismissed
the comparison out of hand. &lt; /SPAN&gt;After the
hearing Laughner, McManus and Compton were returned to
their prison cells where they spent the remainder of 
Easter Weekend and the following two days. 

On Tuesday Criminal District Court Judge Frank
Marullo overruled Bookman?s bond decision and ordered
the Lafitte Three released on their own recognizance. 
Compton, Laughner and McManus still face the prospect
of being tried for a felony charge. The charge of
unlawful entry into a critical infrastructure against
three in effect amounts to an attempt by New Orleans
authorities to silence the public housing movement by
equating civil disobedience with terrorism. Those who
cherish democratic rights are urged to join the
struggle to stop the railroading of the Lafitte
Three.

A meeting to organize the wave of political
repression now underway in New Orleans will be held
7pm Thursday(3/27) at St. Jude?s Church. The meeting
will be held in Basin Hall in the Church at 410 Basin
St .


&nbsp;
Les Evenchick
New Orleans 
piratefish@yahoo.com</BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_001_018D_01C890FE.57964D20--

------=_NextPart_000_018C_01C890FE.57964D20
Content-Type: image/gif;
	name="Blank Bkgrd.gif"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-ID: <109090323@28032008-133D>

R0lGODlhLQAtAID/AP////f39ywAAAAALQAtAEACcAxup8vtvxKQsFon6d02898pGkgiYoCm6sq2
7iqWcmzOsmeXeA7uPJd5CYdD2g9oPF58ygqz+XhCG9JpJGmlYrPXGlfr/Yo/VW45e7amp2tou/lW
xo/zX513z+Vt+1n/tiX2pxP4NUhy2FM4xtjIUQAAOw==

------=_NextPart_000_018C_01C890FE.57964D20--