[CIMC-work] FW: [GPUSA-Newsletter] UPDATE on St. Louis -anti-genetic engineering arrests

[Elizabeth Fraser]

Ï'm passing along this update on St Louis BioDevastation events. --
elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-gpusa-newsletter@list.serve.com
[mailto:owner-gpusa-newsletter@list.serve.com] On Behalf Of
mitchelcohen@mindspring.com
Sent: Saturday, May 17, 2003 1:21 PM
To: actiongreens@yahoogroups.com; nygreen@yahoogroups.com;
sprayno@yahoogroups.com; s11nyc@topica.com
Subject: [GPUSA-Newsletter] UPDATE on St. Louis -anti-genetic
engineering arrests


PLEASE FORWARD TO ALL LISTS

St. Louis Arrests Update

Saturday, May 17, 2003, 1 pm –

A great big thank you to the activist universe! Police and media were
swamped with calls yesterday leading to the release of all arrestees. We
just did an interview with NBC demanding a full investigation into
police harassment and violation of people’s constitutional rights. The
St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran the story on the front page, and police are
back-pedalling as fast as they can.

Yesterday’s “weapons” that police claim they found among the gear in
various households have become a keystone cops routine. The roofing
nails were for the new roof that the Greens and IndyMedia were using on
their new roof (imagine!); the “metal torches” were jugglers’ props; the
Molotov cocktail that police made a big media splash with has suddenly
dropped out of the picture as we produced independent witnesses who saw
police planting it in the building after everyone was already handcuffed
in the police wagons.

We are calling for fingerprint experts to determine whose fingerprints
are on the alleged Molotov cocktail, that seems to have disappeared. We
are certain that only the police officer's will be on it.

The City Attorney now says that the law under which the bicyclists had
been arrested while en route to the biodevastation gathering against
genetic engineering – operating a bicycle without a “bicycle license” –
no longer exists and says in today’s papers that “It’s just a
misunderstanding.”

Meanwhile the puppets for Sunday’s parade are still being detained. All
of the bicycle troupe’s food, wallets, personal supplies are still being
held. A group of nuns are attempting to force the City to release all
personal supplies and artistic material. Free the puppets!

Other good news: 72-year-old Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser, who had
lost two rounds in court (and over $200,000) to Monsanto, announced to
the BiodDevastation gathering that he had just won the right to appeal
to the Canadian Supreme Court, which will hear his case shortly. Percy –
a non-biotech canola grower and seed developer – found that his crop had
been contaminated by drift from Monsanto’s genetically engineered
plantations, but the judge held that it did not matter HOW his crop got
contaminated, Monsanto’s patent rights take legal precedence. Now,
finally, the Supreme Court in Canada will rule on the private patenting
of living organisms, and we expect a big breakthrough.

The conference itself has been a tremendous success. This morning was a
powerful panel on the development of genetically engineered bio-weapons,
Anthrax, and the like. Scary, well-documented. For more on that issue,
check out sunshineproject.org.

More later. Thank you all for your calls, and support!

Mitchel Cohen
www.greenparty.org

















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