City council meetings have a well deserved reputation for being boring, and the Long Beach meeting was no exception. What distinguished this one was a presentation at the very end, about anarchists, by Tom Reeves, City Pposecutor for Long Beach. The purpose of this presentation appeared to be to justify the expenditure of police force to the May Day 2001 demonstration in the city.

Reeves started with a chart proclaiming that, of all the misdemeanor arrests made, 97% were successful convictions. Then, he displayed the protest flyer, and said that “the flyer was for a riot.” The presentation concluded with photos of demonstrators clad in home made cardboard and plastic armor. As an aside, Reeves pointed out that the convictions resulted in community service hours that would benefit the city.

During the followup comment period after the presentation, people involved with the case countered that 58 of the 62 cases, or 97%, were plea bargains by frightened young people, and of the remaining three, only one was found guilty.

Michal Novick asserted that the LBPD irresponsibly opened the city up to civil cases by using “less lethal” rubber bullets against the demonstrators. Jeff Kerns explained the tactics used by the LBPD to herd the demonstration down a street so they were surrounded, before beating them with batons and using tear gas. Sharon Cotrell demanded a written report, because the presentation was given only one line in the agenda; the implication seemed to be that this was a biased presentation to lobby the city council. She also pointed out that the three cases that went to trial were not anarchists, and the guilty verdict was rendered to a animal rights activist. Katie and Alyssa also commented, explaining anarchism and why they wore masks, and Jim Star mentioned that the LBPD videotape of the event showed police violence.

Despite the late notice, and the one line announcement in the agenda, around a dozen people showed up to the meeting to see the presentation, and eight commented on it.

Thanks for being there to report on this and show some resistance to the LBPD and their policies of harassment and violence against people.

It is much appreciated and I only wish I could have made it down there to support you.

in solidarity,

concerned human

Listen to the sound clip at: http://www.raisethefist.com/news/wire/----990537lbcouncilmeeting7402.mp3



Anarchists and community activists attended a City Council meeting where the last item (29) was the prosecuters report on "the prosecution of anarchists". About 10 anarchists/activists showed up the meeting to respond to, and listen to the the agenda item, in which the prosecuter portrayed anarchists as violent criminals who broke the law and disrupted the city on May Day 2001, therefor giving the police justification to unleash the worst case of police brutality Long Beach has ever seen in the past 33 years.

Demonstrators suffered injuries ranging from minor wounds to fractured arms, and penetrating wounds from 12-gauge shot guns shooting scatter-shot projectiles. The prosecuter and police tell lies to justify their bloody outragious attack against a peaceful march - which unforantly turned violent thanks to police who decided to unleash their brutal riot.

Please listen to the sound clip to hear anarchists response to the prosecuters "report" in which he justifies the brutality and repression of anarchists and activists in long beach.

Listen to the sound clip at: http://www.raisethefist.com/news/wire/----990537lbcouncilmeeting7402.mp3

Excellent points by those speaking out against the police, the prosecutor was laying so many falsehoods out there....good job to all.