October 22nd Coalition in the San Francisco Bay Area October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation

On Tuesday, March 9th, the Santa Cruz City Council voted 6-0 to support a recommendation from the city staff which bans the opening of an additional medical marijuana dispensary in Santa Cruz. This was the first reading of the vote and there will be a second vote in two weeks to finalize the ruling. Under the new ordinance, the two existing medical marijuana dispensaries will be permitted to operate a cultivation facility up to 3,000 square feet, which must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Anita L. Wills, mother of Jerry Amaro, writes: "This is a blog written in response to the death of a young man in Oakland, California. The courts have cleared the way for his mother to sue the City of Oakland. He died after being beaten by police in Oakland. Two of the policemen involved in the incident were also involved in the wrongful prosecution of my son in 2001. The blog is about my son, the events that transpired, and how the police and courts figured in his wrongful conviction."

UPDATE 2/23: Holly's trial postponed until April 5th UPDATE 2/22: Case Dismissed Against JR Valrey JR Valrey and Holly Works, the last two of the Oakland 100 — those arrested during the rebellions that followed the police murder of Oscar Grant last year — must raise legal defense funds for their imminent trials. JR's trial starts Monday, February 22nd, and Holly's starts Monday, April 5th. Supporters are calling out to all who are able to attend the trials.

Shortly after midnight on January 31st, San Francisco police and fire marshals raided a benefit party for student arrestees from recent campus occupations. The party was organized by students to help raise money for fines issued during last semester's spate of demonstrations. Eleven people were arrested. One person remains jailed on felony aggravated assault charges. Several party-goers received physical injuries from police.

On January 28, at around 9pm Andrea Caraballo, Guadalupe Rodriguez Lopez, James Wells and Jennifer Lawhorne were eating ice cream in the zocalo of Oaxaca. At that time, one of them recognized the face of the governor of Oaxaca who was about nine feet away. A friend of Brad Will took advantage of the governor's presence to ask him about the case of Mr. Will, which to this day remains unresolved. Bradley Roland Will, a journalist with New York City Indymedia, was shot and killed in October 2006 during the six-month long uprising in Oaxaca. His assailants are believed to be local officials with ties to the ruling political party.

On January 26th, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley ruled that the Animal Liberation Front is not a "gang." The government had tried to find two animal rights protestors guilty of being "gang members." Judge Wesley stated that the prosecution's expert Lt. Butte had "misled the grand jury. The ALF does not meet the legal requirements to be considered a gang. Their primary goal is to save animals, not commit crimes." That charge was dismissed though other charges remain.

The Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), a collective providing cannabis under California's 1996 Compassionate Use Act (Prop. 215), along with the city and county of Santa Cruz, have reached a settlement in their unprecedented lawsuit against the federal government. WAMM's case was prompted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration's raid of their medicinal garden in Davenport on September 5, 2002, in which armed agents terrorized residents and patients, and seized more than 160 cannabis plants.

On the first anniversary of the Israeli military assault on Gaza, the Gaza Freedom March, trapped in Cairo, marched not only against the Israeli siege on Gaza, but also against an Egyptian blockade. On New Year's Day 2010, Gaza Freedom March delegates ratified the historic Cairo Declaration, launching a global boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign against Israeli apartheid. On January 9th, Egypt announced it will ban all aid convoys travelling to Gaza, tightening its blockade against the people of Gaza.

The Santa Cruz Planning Commission passed a new medical marijuana dispensary ban recommendation in mid-November, essentially rubber-stamping the staff's proposal. It mirrors the 'Reefer Madness' hysteria of other cities, eager to demonize and limit marijuana sales.

On Friday, January 1st, two events took place in Oakland to commemorate the murder of Oscar Grant by BART police on New Year's Day 2009. The first was a vigil at the Fruitvale BART station organized by Oscar Grant's family. In the evening, the community gathered at the Humanist Hall in Oakland for an artistic and cultural night dedicated to networking and education. In Los Angeles, community activists made a strong presence at the court house on January 8th. It was the first hearing for Johannes Mehserle since his murder trial was moved out of Alameda County.

According to witnesses, Greg Moultrie was walking on campus with his skateboard in his hands when he was stopped by a campus police officer. The officer ordered Moultrie to hand over his skateboard. When he did not want to comply with what he felt was an unreasonable request, the incident escalated. The two brothers, arrested at Fresno City College on September 25, 2009, are still in the Fresno County Jail for an incident involving a skateboard. Demone Moultrie will soon be transferred to Chino State Prison. His brother Greg is in solitary confinement.

On Friday, December 11th, more then 150 people marched to Sheikh Jarrah, to show support and solidarity with the families who have been evicted from their houses, and those facing evictions. Upon arriving at the neighborhood, the protesters continued to the Al-Kurd's home where settlers have taken over parts of the house, making the Al-Kurd lives a living hell. After an Israeli flag, which represents colonialism and more then 60 years of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, was removed from the stolen settler house window, the police charged the protesters, beating and arresting 23 people.

PORTLAND — Dec 16th, 2009 — Jeff Free Luers, political prisoner and environmental activist, was released from the Columbia River Correctional Institution this morning after serving nine and a half years. Luers was originally sentenced in 2001 to twenty two years and eight months for the politically motivated arson of three SUVs at a car dealership in Eugene, OR. This sentence was deemed grossly disproportionate to the damage sustained by the car dealership and was condemned by legal professionals, human rights groups and activists worldwide. At an appeal hearing in 2007 it was ruled that Luers' original sentence was illegal, and was consequently reduced to ten years.

Students at UC Berkeley re-grouped Friday evening to protest an early morning raid on the Open University at occupied Wheeler Hall. A rally at Wheeler was followed by a concert and a march on the north side of campus. Police dispersed the march and arrested eight people who face multiple felony charges. Among the eight was an Indybay photographer covering the event.

Jeffrey Luers was originally sentenced to 22 years and 8 months for the burning of three SUV's in Eugene, Oregon to make a statement about global warming. In 2007 Jeff won his appeal and his sentence was reduced to 10 years. He is scheduled to be released this December. A final San Francisco benefit for Jeff to raise funds to help him as he transitions back to life on the outside will take place on Tuesday, December 8th starting at 8pm at El Rio.

On December 4th, 1969, the FBI, working with the Chicago police department, assassinated the Chicago Black Panther Party Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton in his bed as he slept. Along with the murder of Mark Clark in the same apartment that night, the "raid" was one in a long line of illegal actions taken by the FBI as part of its COINTELPRO war against the social justice and anti-war movements. Fred Hampton Jr. embarked on a speaking tour to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the assassination of his father.

After fifteen months, more than a dozen court appearances, three major motions, four rejected plea deals, two district attorneys, and nearly a thousand hours of defense work, the case against drum circle supporters, Wes and Jack, is finished.

On December 1st, Jesse James Forrey, who served two and a half months in a Ramsey County, Minnesota jail for "damage to property" during the 2008 RNC in St. Paul, was released. Jesse and his co-defendant have a court date on Thursday, December 10th concerning restitution, and they still need financial support.

An anonymous post to the newswire reports, "In late July and late October, 2009, attacks against intersection and freeway surveillance cameras took place in Santa Cruz County. Thirty cameras had their cables cut, rendering them inoperable. This was done as an act of resistance against increasingly pervasive surveillance technologies."

Lynne Stewart, the much admired civil rights attorney who is struggling with cancer, has had her bail revoked, and she is now being held in jail after a Federal Court ruled on her appeal November 17th. On November 23rd, demonstrators in San Francisco protested against the ruling.