FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12/21/98
FOR MORE INFORMATION: BOB GREENBERG 612/879-8929
MARTIAL LAW IN MINNEAPOLIS!
600 COPS AND 600 LIES
WILL NOT BREAK OUR SPIRITS!
Long Live the Minnehaha Free State!
MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- On Sunday, 12/20/98 the people of Minnesota witnessed
the impeachment of a President, and the largest police action in Minnesota
history. More than 600 police officers, the Governor of Minnesota, and the
Mayor of Minneapolis, created Iraq in Minnesota. The formerly peace loving
Minnehaha Free State now looks as if it had been bombed. A working class
neighborhood obliterated to make way for rich people's convenience. The
wishes of the community ignored. Such is our State's respect for the land,
community vision, and self-determination.
On the channel 5 news broadcast at 5 pm and 10 pm Sunday night, Governor
Carlson became Liar in Chief when he had the audacity to order the violent
invasion of a peaceful sovereign nation, and then claimed that the storm
troopers attempted to negotiate before busting heads, pepper-gassing Santa
Claus, and unleashing a flurry of violence, desecration, and fiscal
irresponsibility not seen since the sixties. The speed and sheer size of
the operation precluded any type of warning, let alone any effort to
negotiate.
Offers to negotiate initiated by the protesters were never agreed to by the
State. Since the beginning of this campaign, Earth First!, Stop the
Reroute, AIM, and the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community have been asking
Mn/DOT to sit down and discuss the concerns of the community. Mn/DOT's
refusal to participate in mediation on Friday the 11th of December as
offered by Jesse Taylor, Regional Director of the Justice Department's
Community Relations Department demonstrates their deceit. Mn/DOT was never
open to dialogue or negotiations, and has lied in the past as a part of
normal operating procedure.
Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton has proven once again that she is a lackey not
only for the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, and any other wealthy campaign
contributors, but a yes-woman for Arne Carlson. She is a key player
in this ongoing story of genocide and environmental racism.
The Mayor claims that there were no injuries, and that this largest of all
police actions was necessary to protect the people. The reality is that
thirty-six people trained in non-violence, people exercising their
Constitutional right to "assemble peaceably to petition the government to
address their grievances," were arrested, and six were injured to varying
degrees. Two required immediate medical attention, and four are suffering
complications from the attack ranging from severe allergic reactions to the
chemical sprays they were subjected to, to severe bruising, and
lacerations. The official line however remains that there were no
injuries. At least five of the protesters are hunger striking, one of them
refusing to take even liquids.
This conspiracy to commit high crimes and misdemeanors against the people
of Minnesota originated in the office of none other than Fascist in Chief
Arne Carlson himself. If the Governor believes that a 600 officer attack
on the peace-loving people of Minnesota will break our spirits and scare us
into submission like a beaten dog, he greatly underestimates the power of
our vision of eco-anarchism, community-self determination, playfulness,
industrial collapse, and the triumph of creative non-violence over State
sponsored terrorism. This raid was carried out to protect the interest of
the State, and to frighten the public out of future acts of
self-determination and direct action.
The people are tired of elected officials insulated from public opinion by
fat-cat campaign contributors. We are seeing people assert their power and
take action: The massive uprising against the stadium; the "Little Alfie"
protest's impact on forest management in the state; and the direct action
campaign to stop nuclear waste at Prairie Island.
The Governor forgets that forty years of community opposition is impossible
to bury. Our movement only grows stronger every time they attack us. It
is a sort of political ju-jitsu. Just like the Austin P-9 Hormel Strikers,
and the Bolt-weevils before them, we challenge exploitation, injustice, and
the illegal actions of the State and the multi-national corporations that
control it, by taking matters into our own hands and exercising our power
and obligation to see the requirements of true justice satisfied. It is a
sad day in Minnesota when the outgoing Governor gloats over the trampling
of the Constitution. Martial law in Minneapolis.
NO COMPROMISE IN DEFENSE OF GRANDMOTHER EARTH! EARTH FIRST!
NEWS ADVISORY 12/21/98
For More Information: Bob Greenberg:
612-879-8929
PROTESTERS FROM THE MINNEHAHA FREE STATE ARRAIGNED TODAY.
WHO: Activists arrested yesterday at the Minnehaha Free State (up to 30 of
them).
WHAT: The protesters will be arraigned at a special hearing to be held by
Hennepin County Chief Judge Mabley. In a deal that the authorities worked
out amongst themselves in advance of the raid, anyone with prior
convictions, or anyone who refuses to stay away from the site of the
encampment will be held awaiting bail, while all others will be released.
At this time it does not look like many of the protesters will agree to
refrain from returning to the site of the encampment even though all of the
homes have already been destroyed in a needless expenditure of State funds.
Three of those arrested are juveniles, and three may be charged with
felony obstruction of of legal process with force, while the remaining
thirty are being charged with trespass and obstruction of legal
process.
WHERE: Room 1159, Hennepin County Courthouse, 300 S. 6th Street,
Minneapolis, MN.
WHEN: 9:00 AM, Monday, December 21, 1998.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 9 AM CST, 12/20/98
For More Information: Bob Greenberg: 612/879-8929
600 POLICE RAID MINNEHAHA LIBERATED ZONE, OVER 36 ARRESTED.
BULLDOZING HOMES, VIOLATING FEDERAL LAWS, POLICE REMOVE AND INJURE
NON-VIOLENT PROTESTERS. MORE THAN 36 ARRESTED.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN -- Just after 4 AM this morning nearly 600 Minnesota State
Patrol officers and Minneapolis Police officers stormed the non-violent
encampment to stop the reroute of Highway 55. As of the writing of this
release, over 36 of the protesters, members of AIM as well as Earth
First!ers, were arrested, and many of them injured and bleeding. Governor
Arne Carlson himself supervised the raid, and stood warming himself at the
burning remains of a bulldozed home.
With over 130 squad cars, five 20 foot Ryder moving trucks filled with
police in riot gear, three city buses, bulldozers, cherry-pickers,
backhoes, ambulances and several fire engines, the police moved in swiftly
and tear gassed all seven houses that were occupied. Protesters came out
of the homes coughing, gagging, and throwing up, and were promptly arrested
by the police. With guns drawn, police held the eyes of protesters open
and sprayed pepper spray directly into their eyes.
In blatant, willful, and knowing disregard for the law, the police
proceeded to destroy federally protected tipis, and to extinguish the
sacred fire of the Dakota people, which is protected under the American
Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, as well as the U.S. Constitution's
protection of freedom of religion. MNDOT, the Minneapolis and State
Police, and the Minneapolis Fire Department are aware that their actions
are in violation of federal law, and have stated to protesters that they
don't care about Native American's right to freedom of religion even as
protected by law, if it interferes with state plans to reroute the
Highway.
All of the non-violent protesters who were locked in place had been removed
by the police as of 7:30 am. The protesters are being held at the Hennepin
County Adult Detention Center on probable cause of obstructing legal
process, and have not been given the medical attention that they need due
to their injuries. The protesters will be arraigned tommorrow at a special
hearing to be held by Hennepin County Chief Judge Mabley. In a deal that
the authorities worked out amongst themselves in advance of the raid,
anyone with prior convictions, or anyone who refuses to stay away from the
site of the encampment will be held awaiting bail, while all others will be
released.
At this time it does not look like any of the protesters will agree to
refrain from returning to the site of the encampment even though all of the
homes have already been destroyed in a needless expenditure of state funds.
Three of those arrested are juveniles, and three may be charged with
felony obstruction of of legal process with force, while the remaining
thirty are being charged with trespass and obstruction of legal
process.
In these times of concern for fiscal restraint, the state has unnecessarily
spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to remove the protesters and
bulldoze the homes to make way for a project that will never see fruition.
With the violation of federal laws that is clearly documented, the Federal
Highway Administration and other federal agencies will not allow the
expenditure of federal funds to be used to destroy sites of cultural and
historical importance such as Camp Coldwater Spring, particularly when the
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council and the Minnesota State Historical Society
are opposed to the project. The reroute and light rail in the Hwy. 55
corridor have been stopped, there is no reason for this needless
destruction, or violence against the public to continue.
Bob McFarlin, public relations director of MNDOT and bonafide and
documented liar, are aware that the recent concerns about the reroute of
Highway 55 raised by the State of Minnesota Historical Society, the Federal
Highway Administration, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, and the
United States Department of Justice have effectively put a temporary stop
to the reroute. Their decision to raid the encampment is nothing more than
Governor Carlson's and MNDOT's vengeful employee's decision to remove the
protesters, destroy the homes, and injure people because they know that
they have lost.
Earth First!, AIM, and the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community are calling
for the resignation of Commissioner James Denn of MNDOT, Commissioner Don
Davis of the Department of Public Safety, MNDOT Public Relations Director,
Bob McFarlin, and State Archaeologist Mark Dudzik. These men have violated
federal and state laws, carried out terrorist acts against the non-violent
people of the state of Minnesota and many Indian nations, as well as lied
to the people concerning the reroute of Highway 55. Justice will prevail.
NO COMPROMISE IN DEFENSE OF MOTHER EARTH! EARTH FIRST!
BACK TO MAIN
Stop the Reroute
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