Dane Powell gets 4 months jail for protesting Trump, rescuing child from police

On the 7th of July, DisruptJ20 defendent Dane Powell received 4 months in jail for protesting Trump on Inauguration day and rescuing several people including a young child from violent, out-of-control police. The child had been pepper sprayed. Before Dane was sentenced, his supporters held a rally outside the courthouse, then went inside to pack the courtroom.

One Twitter report from inside the courtroom reads "Tears shed in court today when support letter was read. Mother detailed how Dane Powell protected her child from police brutality"

Dane was not arrested in the kettle on the 20th of January, the out-of-control police violence he rescued the child and several others from occurred after the kettled protesters had been trapped. Instead, cops yanked him out of another activist's car well after the fact.

Jail time for any defendent in the over 200 Inauguration cases bodes ill for the future of any kind of open protest under Trump's brand of fascism. Most of the 208 remaining cases involve people being charged with mulitple felonies simply for being present while others did something for which charges were possible. Under this standard, any person attending any protest in the US risks going to jail or prison if anyone anywhere in the protest damages property or resists police. This and the out-of-control police violence on J20 are both the hallmarks of dictators like Erdogen in Turkey, a man some say Trump wants to emulate.

Itsgoingdown.org interview with Dane Powell

Video of the protest outside the courthouse and Dane's rescue of a young child from police brutality.