MEDIA ADVISORY JULY 20: Inauguration Day Protestors Call for a Week of Solidarity from July 20-27 in Support of Their Defense

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Inauguration Day Protestors Call for a Week of Solidarity from July 20-27 in Support of Their Defense

Many defendants are refusing plea bargains unless all defendants are offered the same deal

Washington, DC - Suporters of protestors facing multiple felony charges stemming from the Inauguration Day protests are calling for a “week of solidarity” beginning on Thursday, July 20th. Thursday marks the six month anniversary of the mass arrest that swept up 200+ anti-Trump protestors on the corner of L and 12th.

“The aggressive prosecution of Inauguration Day defendants should frighten everyone in America that believes that protest is a necessary and fundamental good,” said a supporter and organizer with the Metropolitan Anarchist Coordinating Council. “The Week of Solidarity is about speaking out against a vision of American society in which you can be jailed for life simply for attending a demonstration.”

Community members and supporters in DC, the US, and around the world are organizing a variety of events, including fundraisers and benefits, press conferences, as well as marches and demonstrations. The week is intended to increase awareness and visibility of the extreme political repression being faced by Inauguration Day defendants. Several actions ahead of the week have already taken place, including artwork painted in support of defendants in Altanta, GA and Binghamton, NY, as well as banner-drops in Elgin, IL and at Camp White Pine, the tree-sit action camp in Huntington, PA currently resisting the construction of the Marine East 2 Pipeline. Events have been planned in cities across the east coast, including: New York City and Albany, NY; Richmond, VA; Durham, Asheville, and Chapel Hill, NC; and Washington, DC.

A list of planned events is available here: http://defendj20resistance.org/2017/07/19/week-of-solidarity-starts.html

The week will also act as a platform to unveil multiple political campaigns being organized by various defense committees.

A call-in campaign to Rochelle Howard in the Office of Police Complaints and DC Mayor Muriel E. Bowser is being organized to demand that the $150,000 allocated for the investigation of the DC Metropolitan Police Department be released immediately. The investigation was prompted by a critical report released by the OPC in February, which described police conduct on Inauguration Day as violent, indiscriminate and in violation of their Standard Operating Procedures. The report has been followed by a civil lawsuit filed by the DC ACLU, asserting that the police committed several human rights violations, including sexual assault against arrested protestors as a punitive measure. The investigation is set to begin in October, but defendants are insisting that the investigation begin immediately.

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Defend J20 Resistance is a large group of felony defendants arrested on January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC and their supporters who have all agreed not to testify against each other and are working together to collectively defend themselves. DefendJ20Resistance.org is a product of their work.