Police/Legal/Prisons

On the 26t of March, Mijente and No Justice No Pride showed up in front of the Supreme Court with a Confederate statue style effigy of Jeff Sessions. As people lined up outside the court watched, they put leg irons, chains, and handcuffs on the effigy. Inside, Attorney General Jeff Sessions was arguing the Supreme Court should overturn a 9th Circuit case that found shackling Federal defendents to be unconstitutional.

Video-shackling Jeff Sessions in Effigy in front of the Supreme Court

On the 1st of March, the DC Council held a long-awaited oversight hearing on MPD and Chief Newsham. Citizens called out Newsham for lying in his own testimony. Citizen testimony call condemned Newsham for fostering overt racism in DC's police department and using counterinsurgency tactics learned from Israeli trainers to suppress dissent, notably in the J20 mass arrest and cases.

Video: tough testimony and citizen expulsions from the MPD oversight hearing

On the 26th of January, Bijan Gaisar's family and friends spoke at a massive protest in front of the US Dept of the Interior, demanding the names of the two US Park Police officers who shot him dead. On Friday, Nov 17, 2017, US Park Police approached his vehicle with drawn guns after a chase that began over a fender bender in which he had been the victim, struck from behind. At the end of the chase, he may have seen the guns, reacted, and tried to escape with his life.

Video-Bijan's sister speaks out at the rally complete speech, 7m 39s

On the 18th of January, the US Attorney's Office filed a "notice of intent to proceed" against only 59 of the until now 188 remaining defendents from the DisruptJ20 protests a year ago. They have stated they want to focus on a "smaller core group" so this fight is by no means over. The remaining 59 J20 defendents need your support now as much as ever.