LA Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal

8124 W. Third Street, Suite 201, Los Angeles, CA 90048; Tel: 323-653-4510; Fax: 323-653-3245; LAFSPRW6@aol.com

STATEMENT TO THE MEDIA

on LAWSUIT AGAINST LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT FOR MISCONDUCT DURING AUGUST 2000 DEMONSTATIONS

By Cheryl Deptowicz

August 9, 2001

The Los Angeles Coalition to Stop the Execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal is proud to participate in this lawsuit being filed today in Federal Court to demand that the city of Los Angeles and its police department recognize our constitutional right to march and rally in the streets of Los Angeles. I am Cheryl Deptowicz and I represent Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party in the Coalition.

We decided to sponsor a demonstration on Sunday, August 13, in order to publicize the case of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Abu-Jamal, a former Black panther and award-winning journalist, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for killing a Philadelphia cop. We join millions worldwide in believing that Mumia was framed. His trial was characterized by judicial and prosecutorial misconduct, illegal exclusion of Blacks from his jury, suppression of evidence that could have proven his innocence, and harassment and intimidation of witnesses--for starters.

Our goal last summer was to continue to build a worldwide movement so vocal and so strong that we could force the legal system to recognize that Mumia's basic constitutional rights have repeatedly been violated in the 19 years he has spent on trial and on death row. His crime is not murder but his advocacy of radical politics. He was a high profile target of the cops and Philadelphia politicians because he publicly exposed their brutality toward the Black community.

Last summer we were treated like high profile targets ourselves. We applied for a permit months before the August 13^th date. We called, wrote, met, cajoled and followed up scores of dead end leads through a city bureaucracy determined to deny us what, quite simply, is guaranteed by the U.S. constitution. Finally, we, along with the other organizations here, went to Federal Court to demand the city stop stalling and recognize that we have just as much right to be in downtown Los Angeles as the Democrats and their entire entourage. The Judge agreed with us, ordered the police to grant our permits, and informed the city in no uncertain terms that the First Amendment was not to be a stepchild to the political festivities planned in downtown LA.

But when we asked the city council to require that the police stop their plans for preventative detention, harassment of organizers, provocation of demonstrators, spying on activists etc.--they refused. The Los Angeles Times even gave Mayor Riordan banner coverage for his violence baiting and threats to have the police physically maul us.

On Sunday, August 13, close to 10,000 militant, peaceful demonstrators were faced with a police force that seemed intent on violating the letter and the spirit of the constitutional order we had received merely days before.

As a member of the security team for that day's rally, I can tell you from personal experience that the massive show of police firepower had no other purpose than to harass, intimidate, provoke and sabotage the demonstration. How else do you explain being ordered abruptly to "get everyone OFF the sidewalks or you will all be arrested;" having uniformed police taunt youth--some of whom were not even part of our demonstration--to throw bottles, after which, the police informed me, they would shut down the demonstration; helicopters flying constantly overhead so rally speakers could not be heard. The police arbitrarily refused to let people off of subway platforms to attend the demonstration, kept potential participants behind cordons of heavily armed officers, and at one point tried to keep our security coordinator from speaking to one of the co-chairs. The presence of what looked like armored personnel carriers at the end of our march, which is where many of our disabled and senior participants were walking, caused such a disturbance that we had to ask a volunteer sound truck with a live band to place themselves between the march and the police.

In fact, the only thing we needed a security team for that day was to protect the demonstration from the police. We join in filing this lawsuit to force the downtown businesses, our city council and--most of all--the LAPD, to respect the fact that we have as much right to protest the government's persecution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and the policies of the LAPD, as the Democratic party has to convene for a huge, publicly funded party in the center of town.

We urge all Angelinos who cherish the right to speak your mind and who respect the right to protest when your government is wrong, to support this lawsuit to bring the LAPD under the control of the US Constitution.

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