There will be a press conference friday, O25, at 12:00 noon at city hall (4th ave side) to anounce the filing of a federal civil rights suit against the city, the mayor, Chief Kroeker and others for the brutal attacks on peaceful protestors during the A22 Bush visit to Portland.
Portland Police, under cover of the current political climate ,have intensified their assault on dissent in this community. National Lawyers Guild attorneys representing victims of police attacks at on August 22nd, 2002 will file a lawsuit in federal court Friday. The suit accuses Mayor Vera Katz, Police chief Mark Kroeker, Assistant Chief Greg Clark, Commander Rosie Sizer and several yet-to-be-named Police Officers of violating the civil rights of peaceful demonstrators.
From attacks on peaceful demonstrators, to specious indictments of environmental activists as "terrorists" to harassment of Portland's immigrant communities, Police have engaged repeatedly in actions designed to chill dissent. These attacks on our fundamental constitutional rights must not go unchallenged.
This lawsuit seeks not only to hold police to account for their actions on August 22nd, but to begin to restore respect for the constitution to the Police force. The Plaintiffs are seeking injunctions against the city to ban the use of pepper spray against demonstrators and to install genuine civilian revue of police misconduct. Perhaps this lawsuit will remind the city and its highest officials that the rights of the citizens of Portland to political dissent are not enjoyed through the discretion of a Mayor, Police chief or President, but are the cornerstone of this nation's founding principles. These rights must be defended.
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