United for Peace of Pierce County, WA - We nonviolently oppose the reliance on unilateral military actions rather than cooperative diplomacy.

Olympia PMR activist Pham Nguyen is appealing for supporters to attend the arraignment on Wed., May 28, in Olympia Municipal Court, of three nonviolent civil resisters arrested during the November 2007 port militarization resistance actions in Olympia.[1] -- He reviews the considerable body of evidence indicating that the these cases are being pursued because of political pressure from the Olympian, which has taken a hard line toward nonviolent antiwar activists while turning a blind eye to outrageous violence inflicted by militarized police. -- The Olympian claims to demand “zero tolerance for vandalism and lawlessness,” but in neo-Orwellian fashion obstinately refuse to recognize that it is the protesters, and not the police, who are standing for the rule of law in this case. -- Uniforms, batons, and pepper spray are not what legality is made of....

** Please come and show your support for Katie, Patsy, and Shyam, who are being charged for participating in last November's Port of Olympia protests! **

All three are charged with "Obstructing an Officer." Shyam has an additional charge of "Resisting Arrest."

The three defendants above were arrested during the protests at the Port of Olympia in November 2007. There were 66 arrests altogether. Some people were arrested while performing nonviolent civil resistance to end the war and occupation of Iraq. Others were arrested while simply standing on the sidewalk. Even more people were assaulted by the police while posing no threat.

Out of all the arrests made, the city only pressed charges against three people, and that was back in November. Those charges were dropped soon after, because they were ridiculous. For instance, one activist was arrested and charged with trespassing on Port property, even though he had been allowed in by Port security!

Shyam was charged back then with "Pedestrian Interference" and "Resisting Arrest." The city soon dropped those charges. Five months later, the city is charging Shyam again for the same alleged incident, but this time it's "Obstructing an Officer" and "Resisting Arrest."

Katie and Patsy were arrested on Nov. 10 and booked for alleged "Pedestrian Interference." Six months later, the city is deciding to charge them with "Obstructing an Officer."

There is no doubt that this is a political move by the city and does not relate to any alleged actions by the defendants. In the past months, the Olympian repeatedly emphasized that no one from the November Port protests were being charged, while the Olympian Editorial Board declared that port protesters "must be held accountable for their abhorrent behavior."

On April 30, Olympia City Manager Steve Hall met with the Olympian Editorial Board and told them that the city would determine appropriate charges for the November Port protests within the following two weeks.

He emphasized the case of nine individuals who were arrested on Plum & Union. Hall was quoted as saying, "We know who they are. . . . It's clear what they did. The other cases are, I guess, not as obvious." (my emphasis)

Two weeks later, the Olympian Editorial Board published a piece entitled "Lawlessness Will Not Be Condoned." The piece referred to "escalating violence in the community" and drew a link from the November Port protests, to the Dead Prez incident, to the May Day incident.

The editorial called on the city to "live up to the message" of prosecuting protesters. It singled out Steve Hall and told him, "The two weeks is up today, so all eyes are on City Hall to see whether law enforcement officers mean what they say: There will be zero tolerance for vandalism and lawlessness."

(In typical Olympian Editorial Board style, it doesn't matter who gets charged, what the charges are, and whether the charges are true. What matters is that somebody has to pay.)

The following day, Steve Hall informed the Olympian that the city was filing charges against Katie, Patsy, and Shyam. Note that the city had not yet informed the defendants at that time. In fact, the charges had not yet been completely filed and processed when the city informed the Olympian.

Note also that Katie, Patsy, and Shyam were not among those arrested on Plum & Union. Their cases were among the ones that Hall had previously stated were "not as obvious." We do not know why -- out of the 61 arrestees -- the city has singled out Katie, Patsy, and Shyam to be the scapegoats for the supposed "escalating violence in the community."

And for those of us familiar with the circumstances behind their arrests, we do not know how the city intends to argue the charges against them.

We'll have to wait until arraignment on Wednesday to find out. Hope you can be there, too.