Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Sitting in a tree is not a crime!
Sitting in a tree is not a crime, and it doesn't take away your right to defend yourself against an attacker. Free Midnight Matt, and drop the charges.
No matter what the situation was at the Muwekma Park tree-sit. Clearly someone going up into a tree to confront another person is the aggressor, and looking at it from a legal standpoint there is no justification for arresting the person defending him/herself from injury.
Sitting in a tree is a precarious situation to begin with. (Tree-sits in general are a valuable tool in defending mother earth from the steady capitalist/imperialist assault) One is in an elevated situation and any sudden movements could lead to severe or fatal injury. I'm not sure why someone went up in the tree to confront/remove Matt, but for that person to even quasi-legally confront the tree-sitter he/she would have had to identify themselves as a police officer. Otherwise, the tree-sitter (in this case Midnight Matt) had every right to defend himself from injury at the hands of an attacker. In this instance the attacker should have been arrested and charged with attempted murder, not Midnight Matt.
Thus, the police have the wrong person incarcerated on attempted murder charges. All charges should be dropped at Matt's arraignment on Mon. Jan. 31st 2011. - Wiley Manuel Courthouse 660 Washington St. Downtown Oakland. The Muwekma Park tree-sitters are requesting support at the arraignment this Mon at 2pm. Please come out and support the latest example of police brutality/misconduct/terror - and if this individual(s) really is working with the police(UCPD or BPD) then we can add police attempted murder to the long list of abuses the people of this state are put through on a daily basis.
All power to the people!
Drop the charges and free all political prisoners.
Sitting in a tree is a precarious situation to begin with. (Tree-sits in general are a valuable tool in defending mother earth from the steady capitalist/imperialist assault) One is in an elevated situation and any sudden movements could lead to severe or fatal injury. I'm not sure why someone went up in the tree to confront/remove Matt, but for that person to even quasi-legally confront the tree-sitter he/she would have had to identify themselves as a police officer. Otherwise, the tree-sitter (in this case Midnight Matt) had every right to defend himself from injury at the hands of an attacker. In this instance the attacker should have been arrested and charged with attempted murder, not Midnight Matt.
Thus, the police have the wrong person incarcerated on attempted murder charges. All charges should be dropped at Matt's arraignment on Mon. Jan. 31st 2011. - Wiley Manuel Courthouse 660 Washington St. Downtown Oakland. The Muwekma Park tree-sitters are requesting support at the arraignment this Mon at 2pm. Please come out and support the latest example of police brutality/misconduct/terror - and if this individual(s) really is working with the police(UCPD or BPD) then we can add police attempted murder to the long list of abuses the people of this state are put through on a daily basis.
All power to the people!
Drop the charges and free all political prisoners.
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
Please know that I attended the People's Park meeting at 1PM on Sunday January 30th. Here is my report. After Gabe was chosen as facilitator, and Nick offered to take notes, we had a go around to set an agenda. The main items were 1.the tree-sit situation, 2. the Saturday February 5th at 1PM "Protest for Dignity" on Telegraph Avenue in front of Moe's Bookstore, 3.the March 2nd event, 4.the PP Anniversary Party, either on April 17th (full moon) or May 1st, still to be determined, and 5.the pros and cons of running a meeting by consensus versus by Robert's Rules of Order. I am posting this here to inform all that the participants at the meeting agreed that the tree-sit was an autonomous action undertaken without approval by consensus of the group who have historically volunteered to maintain, promote activities in, and otherwise represent People's Park from any outside interference. Therefore, the weekly People's Park meeting decided to not issue any statement nor officially involve itself with any repurcussions in regard to the tree sit. In discussion, the group did assert that the charges against Midnight Matt were politically motivated and legally ridiculous, and for this reason Midnight Matt deserves support. The next People's Park meeting is on Sunday February 6th at 1PM, assembling to the west of the dumpster area near the small signboard, in front of the remaining cactus plantings along Haste Street. PEACE
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$155.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network