by phuk minutemen
Friday, May. 27, 2005 at 12:04 AM
somosindigena@hotmail.com
5 PEOPLE ARRESTED TONIGHT, VIGIL HELD TILL ROUGHLY 2AM DEMANDING THEIR RELEASE. BAIL SET AS HIGH AS $50,000. for several arrestees. ***2 INJURED FROM BEING STRUCK BY CAR, one who left to hospital has been released wtih apparently several contusions and other injuries
As for now, many of the parents and friends were not able to come up wtih the $5K bond to release their loved ones, so as of 2am or so, 4 protestors remain in detention at: ORANGE COUNTY JAIL (in santa ana) awaiting 72 hours until arraignment. At least one of the 5 was released tonight, with a crowd outside Garden Grove Police station of family, friends and those in solidarity waiting for his release.
One protestor who received among the highest charges was arrested for "assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon" (felony count), and is stil in detainment. The deadly weapon the charges are presumably accusing him / them of are flying water bottles that came randomly out of a crowd, and certain individual(s) were profiled based on where they were standing or who knows what criteria as being the potneital "water bottle throwers", even though the accused(s) did not have any possession of any bottles thru-out the night.
I believe there were 3 protestors with this charge, one of whom is 18 years old from Laguna Niguel, peaceloving Japanese-American male. We will be calling / going to the ORANGE COUNTY JAIL first thing tomorrow to attempt to visit him / them until their arraignments (at which time it is hoped that the judge will lower their bail amount and/or release them on "cognisance").
However, it is likely that the OC Jail has very limited visiting hours, and it is not likely any of us will be successful at making contact.
We are being offered no answers as to IF there are any injuries, or any SEFERITY of possible injuries.
ONE OF THE ARRESTEES WAS IN A WHEEL CHAIR. (NO, It wasn't even a power-motor'ed chair). Clearly, a chicano in a wheel chair with a heart full of passion is far too great a threat for the pinche policia to allow to roll free on our streets.
The vigil outside the courthouse lasted until Fernando was released, and at its peak was radiating with chanting "Set them Free", accordian jamming and people dancing on the sidewalks until we were threatened with arrest if we continued to chant.
This is a very grave step towards a much darker path that we collectively are embarking on. We all need to stay posted wtih ALL of those charged tonight with crimes, suppourt their court cases, and work to get their stories out.
On a broader scale---this situation is hardly over. People commented tonight that maybe tonight's incidents' would be good in letting people masses know how hateful the minutemen are. But, if you read the LA times---they are already depicting "us" as the criminals, including blaming the two people photographed laying on the ground after being virtually "run over" by a car as being to blame for the incident.
For more information, at this point, we agreed to continue postin gupdates on LA indymedia.org. However, for better contact networking options, please post here so we can stay connected on these issues.