On May 25, 2005, five young men were arrested in Garden Grove for protesting against the racist Minuteman Project. They were given falsified, trumped-up charges, ranging up to "assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer," all because someone in the crowd allegedly threw a water bottle at the police. This is very clearly a case of political repression, and the fact that four of the five arrestees are people of color is no coincidence. They were grabbed at random, with absolutely no evidence backing the charges brought against them, and some of the arrestees were brutally tackled to the ground and roughed up by multiple police officers. These five victims of police/political repression have come to be known collectively as the Garden Grove 5.

This Monday (October 3) at 8:30 am, three members of the Garden Grove 5 will have their Preliminary Hearing. It is of the utmost importance that we all show up to court to show support, stand in solidarity, and demonstrate that these unjustly arrested activists have the full support of their communities. Hopefully the judge will see how ridiculous these charges are, and drop them before the cases can go to trial!

Details:

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3 @ 8:30 AM

West Justice Center in courtroom W15

Orange County Superior Court, 8131 13th Street, Westminster, CA

Kurt Isobe, Hugo Sarmiento, and Juan-Obed Silva will all be having their Preliminary Hearings at this date.

Once again... these young students and activist need OUR support as they battle racism, repression, police harassment, and most of all, injustice. For more information, vist www.May25.org

*** PLEASE distribute this message to all your contacts, by email, Myspace, word of mouth, flyer, or whatever medium possible. A ready-to-print flyer is available at

http://kyokomusic.com/kurtisobe/img/october3.jpg

Please download the flyer, print it, and distribute as many copies as you can.

If you cannot make it to the Preliminary Hearing, please continue to distribute this message, and consider making a donation to the May 25 Legal Defense fund. Information on how to donate is available at www.May25.org

-the May 25 Legal Defense Committee