FTAA Protests: Amnesty Says Miami Police May Have Broken UN Laws

[G_j]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1219-08.htm

Reuters
FTAA Protests: Amnesty Says Miami Police May Have Broken UN Laws

 MIAMI - Police in Miami may have violated various international laws and covenants on civil rights and use of force when they crushed protests against a free trade meeting last month, rights group Amnesty International said.

In a letter to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, dated Dec. 16 and made public on Thursday, the human rights watchdog repeated a call for an independent inquiry into police actions that led to more than 200 arrests and dozens of injuries.

"Concerns include reports of the indiscriminate and inappropriate use of nonlethal weapons on nonviolent protesters resulting in scores of injuries, the obstruction of those providing medical treatment, multiple and random arrests ... and the denial of the right to freedom of expression and association," Americas program director Susan Lee wrote.

Amnesty said preliminary investigations suggested police violated the United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, among other covenants.
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[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[funkyflathead]

2. They would arrest the officers and...

send them to the Hauge for trial I guess/

[Atman]

3. The Official GOP response...

"So, what, punk? What are you gonna do about it? BWHAHAHAHAHA!"

[G_j]

4. send a fax

Fax Florida State Attorney re: Miami FTAA Civil Rights Violations

FREE FAX: http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=248&source=29

ACTIVISTS RELEASED FROM JAIL, BUT THE FIGHT IS JUST BEGINNING TO SAVE OUR CIVIL LIBERTIES!

More than 5,000 faxes have been sent in the past two weeks to Miami Mayor Diaz demanding the release of activists unjustly imprisioned during the November Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) protests. Thanks to your faxes and the diligent media and legal work of folks in Miami and around the country, our fellow fair traders have been released from Miami jails.

But this is only the first step in the campaign to Save Our Civil Liberties and fight for our rights to democratic dissent. We must demand that the illegal charges leveled against protesters be dropped and that an independent investigation be conducted into the police brutality and contsitutional and human rights violations that took place in Miami. Local activists and the legal team need our solidarity to pressure Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle to drop all charges against FTAA protesters.

FREE FAX: SEND Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle a fax demanding that ALL CHARGES BE DROPPED AND AN INDPENDENT INVESTIGATION CONDUCTED!
http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=248&source=29
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The abuses in Miami have prompted strong response from Amnesty International and the ACLU, the Steelworkers and AFL, the Sierra Club, and a broad coalition of labor, antiwar, direct action, global justice, civil liberties and community groups. It has been rumored that Bill Moyers is seekng video footage.
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Personal Voices: Hope and Fear in Miami
David Solnit, AlterNet
A veteran activist finds much to fear, but also bits of hope, after being jailed in Miami.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17342
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