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On the 4th of June, the first of four defendents in the second J20 trial group was acquitted of all charges, and all charges dropped against the remaining defendents who were to begin trial that day in another trial group. On the 6th of June, another defendent was acquitted of all but one charge, with the jury deadlocked on the final charge of "participating in a riot." On the 7th of June, the third defendent was acquitted of APO and the jury deadlocked on all other charges. Finally, a mistrial was declared on all counts against the fourth and final defendent, the jury deadlocked.

Remembrances on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, as Palestinians refer to the events of 1948 leading to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and the creation of Israel, one day after the Trump administration moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Video Link

On the 30th of May, the ACLU hosted the #ReformDCJustice candidate's forum for DC Council Chair and at-large candidates. Two at-large candidates seeking to unseat Anita Bonds were present, Anita Bonds was a no-show. The ACLU, Black Lives Matter, and No Justice No Pride would have been a tough audience for a councilmember known to answer to big buisness and gentrifiers, and who attended Trump's inauguration. Issues from Stop and Frisk to sex work to Amazon's efforts to invade DC came up during the forum.

Video: Jeremiah Lowery on Amazon vs homeless funding, Lowery vs Goodwin on sex work legalization

On May 26, a banner drop over Route 66 in solidarity with the J20 defendents was reported to itsgoingdown.org. On May 23, the chief judge overseeing the J20 cases agreed with defense attorneys that the government had committed a Brady rule violation by concealing a portion of the Veritas tape they plan to use as "evidence" from the defense. Sanctions against the prosecution will be decided on May 31.

On the 22nd of May, a wide spectrum of community organizations held a town hall meeting at St Stephens Church to begin organizing strong opposition to proposals to locate Amazon.com's "HQ2" in DC, Montgomery County, MD, or in Northern VA. One of the speakers revealed that the sudden push to close the homeless shelter at DC General may be to clear the site for Amazon to build there.

Video highlights of the town hall plus author's observation on historical precedent of hospital closure for failed Olympic bid

On May 19th the 1804 Movement for All Immigrants gathered in front of the White House. They were protesting Trump's decision to end TPS for Haitian and Central American refugees, and his related remarks calling their countries "shitholes."

Video: tourists join the protesters in front of the White House

On the 14th of May, the Poor People's Campaign kicked off six weeks of direct action with civil disobedience in cities all over Turtle Island, resulting in hundreds of arrests. Here in DC, protesters marched into the streets from the US Capitol and were quickly but partially kettled by US Capitol Police. The route back to one sidewalk was not blocked but protesters stood their ground and were then arrested.

Video of the civil disobedience (3 min 27 sec) on Liveleak after being removed by Archive.org

On the 8th of May, Donald Trump gave a long-winded speech ending in his announcement that he is repudiating the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposing sanctions. Code Pink protested outside as Trump commited the US to another in 500 years of broken treaties. Code Pink compared Trump's speech to Bush's announcment about WMD in Iraq that led to war.

Code Pink, Trump supporters react to Trump's announcement

Trump Makes America Great Again by Breaking Another Treaty (Video)

On the 1st of May, DC's annual Mayday march proceeded from Columbia Heights to Malcolm X Park. Expected fascist counterprotesters were a no-show and the entire event was uneventful and mostly family-friendly. It was announced during the DC march that at that time (noon Pacific time) every West Coast port was shut down, and marchers in Milwaulkee descended of the offices of the sheriff over his decision to join ICE's 287(g) program. In Seattle, marchers descended on ICE. The Proud Boys showed up for a countermarch there but abandoned the field after maybe half an hour. In Portland, Oregon police cars were damaged, and a major battle between police and anarchists was fought in Paris.

Update 5-2-2018:Car attack on Seattle youth jail protesters confirmed by video, second car attack reported by itsgoingdown.org against IWW-GDC picket at Seattle Wendy's

Video highlights of DC's Mayday march and rally(2m:50s)