PINKtank

ColdSnap Legal Collective released a statement yesterday outlining the legal grievances regarding the arrests and violence here in the Twin Cities. “With no provocation,” the release states,

police have indiscriminately used rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and chemical irritants to disperse crowds and incapacitate protesters. Police appear to be specifically targeting videographers documenting these police abuses. By the end of the day today, only 12 people had been arraigned. . . . . “These tactics are designed to protect the most vulnerable people in jail, and take a page from the history of labor solidarity,” said Rick Kelley of Coldsnap Legal Collective, an activist-based legal collective supporting the arrestees. . . .

In an unusual court decision, Ramsey County Judge Paulette K. Flynn today convicted two minors of criminal contempt for refusing to provide their identity. The two minors were then sentenced to 30 days in an adult jail facility. “This decision undermines one of the most fundamental human rights concepts in the justice system, to protect the rights and safety of children,” said Jordan Kushner, Mass Defense Committee Chair of the National Lawyers Guild’s Minnesota chapter, and an attorney for one of the minors. “This shows the willingness of the courts to go to any length, including sacrificing the most important due process rights, to answer to the political pressure to persecute activists.”

More here.

[I meant, actually, to provide an actual list of news stories on these matters but I haven't found terribly many that aren't insulting, replete with gross inaccuracies, or devoted exclusively to Amy Goodman, who has now been released. Sorry!]

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