Friends,

You may remember our friend and UWC intern at the LVP&J Center (for two years!), Julie Pittman, who graduated from the UWC in May '08. Below is an email from Julie, encouraging us to take 2 simple actions on behalf of the activists, including herself, who were unjustly arrested at the recent G20 Summit in Pittsburgh.

Be forewarned that your email action/petition signing message is automatically sent to a number of newspaper editors, senators and reps., whereby you will get automated replies.

Thank you.

pat

Begin forwarded message:

From: Julie Pittman
Date: October 4, 2009 10:41:42 PM MDT
Subject: Help me fight my arrest at the G20

Hello Everyone

I am sure many of you have heard word of the actions at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh this past weekend. If you have not, or are not sure as to what exactly the G20 is, here is a useful link:

For info about the G20: http://resistg20.org/

Check out some videos of police brutality and firsthand accounts of what went down at the summit here:

http://www.pittsburghpolicebrutality.com/

For a more fun take on the whole situation, I can't help but recommend a song that reclaims the dispersal order played throughout the weekend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIBBerDiDXY


On a more serious note though, I, along with many of my friends and many more strangers, was arrested on Friday night at Schenley Plaza on the UPitt campus during an anti-police brutality rally. Those who gathered that evening were simply exercising our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.  Personally, I was there as a street medic, which is a specifically nonviolent role, prepared to take care of anyone who needed medical attention.  The demonstration was remarkably peaceful even as cops declared it an unlawful assembly and issued a dispersal order.  As people slowly moved out of the Plaza, cops began to advance on protestors and use various weapons - an LRAD (sound cannon), batons, and chemical weapons, despite our markedly peaceful dispersal.

Without being given sufficient time to leave the area, many were driven into Schenley Plaza on the other side of Forbes Ave. where we were then surrounded on all sides and herded like cattle into a central location for a mass arrest. It was a trap plain and simple.  I personally was busy treating a reporter who was gassed directly in the face, such that even as I was trying to move away from police lines while flushing his eyes, I had no time to disperse.

Instead, we were ringed by a crowd of riot cops.  Even in this tense atmosphere, people remained calm and orderly as we were commanded to lie down and were zip-tied.  As we were processed, some people had valuable property taken that will not be seen again.  (I lost my water bottle, and eye-flush bottles.)  While being detained, many people (including myself) inquired as to what they were being charged with and were denied a legitimate response. Most would spend the next 6-20 hours in handcuffs in various states of dishevelment and discomfort.  Personally - I was detained and handcuffed for twelve hours. Most of us were let out of jail without formally being made aware of their charges.  Only later, upon calling, did I find out that I, like most other mass-arrestees, am being charged with a misdemeanor for failure to disperse (class 2) and misdemeanor for disorderly conduct (class 3).

Many bystanders, including many UPitt students, studying on their lawn, or joggers who had simply gone down the wrong street who were unaware of what was happening were arrested and/or injured in the process. There has been a huge amount of organizing aimed at dropping the charges against UPitt students, claiming they were swept up by the protests accidentally.  Essentially, UPitt students are likely to have all charges dropped.  Out of towners like me, however, are still facing serious charges and need your help to put pressure on Pittsburgh to decriminalize peaceful protest and to drop the unreasonable charges we've been leveled with.

You can sign a petition addressing Federal Officials, Congressional leaders, the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation, the Pennsylvania Legislature, the Mayor of Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Police Chief, Pittsburgh city officials, Pittsburgh business leaders, the Allegheny County Council and local and national media demanding an immediate release of all detainees, that all charges be dropped, and calling for an independent investigation.

Please take the time to support me and our collective right to protest and sign the petition here:

http://www.bailoutpeople.org/releaseg20arrestees.shtml

And for all of you real go-getters (I love you!), please also call the DA to request that they drop all charges against me and all others arrested at the G20.  Stephen A. Zappala, Jr, District Attorney can be reached at 412.350.4400.

Also - please forward this widely.

Thank you so much and please contact me if you want to hear more about my experience or more about what you can do to support me and others like me.  Again - thanks!

Julie Pittman

----------------