a nonviolent protester, sarah roberts, who the long beach police department arrested last may day, 2001, was wrongfully convicted of two misdemeanor charges of wearing a mask with criminal intent and failure to disperse/unlawful assembly. worse yet, at her sentencing hearing on thursday morning, may 23, 2002, the judge imposed a total of 6 months in jail, ,000 in fines, and 3 years of probation!

at the may day protest, the long beach police department charged the protesters without any provocation, firing hundreds of rubber bullets, beating people with batons, summarily arresting people without cause, and caging protesters in then claiming to have given orders to disperse, using this as an excuse to make mass arrests. the prosecution has not established any intent, criminal or otherwise, in sarah's decision to wear a protective mask; sarah's ability to comply with dispersal orders was blocked by the police themselves; and the judge has shown a strong and clear bias during the trial.

most of the arrestees decided to plea bargain to probation to avoid trial; of those who defended their innocence, sarah roberts is the only one who has been convicted. the 'special treatment' the protesters have received from the police, prosecutor, and even the fbi is part of the broader repression that has been taking place as well as the more local clampdown in long beach, where several more activists (matthew lamont, max lucas, jeff hendricks, and hassan hassan) have been arrested on trumped-up charges due to their political beliefs. in particular, the government agencies are targeting radical and especially anarchist activists to destroy the momentum of the movement in southern california.

sangeeta kumar, one of the people who came to show support for sarah roberts at the sentencing hearing, noted that

"she cried alot during her talking...she was in tight handcuffs and she could not even comfortablly wipe the tears from her eyes...

"the judge said that these activists think that they are above the law and deserve different rights, and it is not the case and especially not in Long Beach

"after Sarah made a request for vegan food -the judge who apparently knew alot about the vegan diet said that surely there would be PLENTY of food to eat besides just meat and dairy-WOW! he's right on! Then he had the nerve to say that she may have to VARY her diet a bit...sarah immediately said that is like telling a Jew to not eat Kosher...and that she is vegan for moral reasons and she will not VARY her diet...and said that they were not giving her vegan food and she had not eaten in 2 days...."

From what I see and know, I support Sarah's situation. I have one little question if no one minds though.

Has Sarah consented to being grouped with Rampage and Jeff? Not to say that there are bad things or good things to say about Matt and Jeff, but I think she should know who she is being associated with before her name is put on anything with the others mentioned.

I'd like to stress that this is MY opinion. Others may feel the same, but I am only speaking for myself.

Hearts and Stars,

-Aaron

From what I see and know, I support Sarah's situation. I have one little question if no one minds though.

Has Sarah consented to being grouped with Rampage and Jeff? Not to say that there are bad things or good things to say about Matt and Jeff, but I think she should know who she is being associated with before her name is put on anything with the others mentioned.

I'd like to stress that this is MY opinion. Others may feel the same, but I am only speaking for myself.

Hearts and Stars,

-Aaron

it's real fucked up that this poor girl Sarah was the one fucked over when these dumb ass kids in Long Beach who are walking around free now. She was thrown out there to hang, and she was the only one fucked over while the rest of these so called revolutionaries are walking free because their rich mom or dad bailed them out of jail or they didn't have the guts to actually stand up for what they believe in and pleaded out

Sarah the one who had no activist experience is the only one who stood up for what she believed and took this case on and she is the only one that had any guts the rest of these thugs, and that's what I will call them because that's what they are are stupid kids who are running around just annoyed and mad and will never get anywhere and will end up just like their yuppy mom and dad eventually.

Fuck you all for doing this, fuck you all for screwing Sarah over and showing everyone exactly who you really are. You are pathetic and it's a shame that you can even call yourselves anarchist or activists. FUCK YOU ALL, and it's not the cops that are repressing you, it's because you are so damn dumb you beg for the cops to pay attention to you, and now they are. you are repressing and mind fucking yourselves, but hey that's no big deal as long you get to feel good about yourself by wearing your black block trendy clothes, and chant class war and call yourselves revolutionary or freedom fighters you are all full of shit and you only care about yourselves and the other shitty people that you surround yourselves with.

Sarah and others like her are the true revolutionaries and the ones that will make any actual change, no wonder she stopped hanging out with all you losers and no wonder you all keep losing more and more friends. I will never come down to Long Beach again, as a colored man I cannot believe I even thought you all were cool at some point, I can't believe how pathetic you all really are.

Sarah is NOTHING like Rampage, Jeff or any other of those Long Beach fools. She does not even like them, she does not even know them or have anything to do with them. She has never been friends with any of them and fuck the asshole who is associating her with them. She is a good friend of mine, and I speak to her and her other friends all the time, she never associated herself with those Long Beach fools, she has not seen most of them since last summer

FUCK YOU ASSHOLE! and you better stop doing, these kids will never stop.