Police Continue Harassment of Texas Activists in Wake of RNC

Over a month after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, the FBI continues to harass and intimidate activists who chose to voice their opinions about the status quo.

In the last ten days, five activists in Houston and Austin have received subpoenas to appear before a Federal Grand Jury in Minneapolis on October 21. Several other activists have had their homes, or those of parents and friends, visited by the FBI. Police Continue Harassment of Texas Activists in Wake of RNC

Over a month after the conclusion of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, the FBI continues to harass and intimidate activists who chose to voice their opinions about the status quo.

In the last ten days, five activists in Houston and Austin have received subpoenas to appear before a Federal Grand Jury in Minneapolis on October 21. Several other activists have had their homes, or those of parents and friends, visited by the FBI.

According to the FBI, the Texas activists, like the RNC Welcoming Committee, fell victim to an FBI informant (see http://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/sep/documents-fbi-and-doj-infiltration-austin-affinity-group). As a result, two Texans, David McKay and Bradley Crowder, remain incarcerated in Minneapolis, facing ten years each for allegedly possessing Molotov cocktails. Because the Grand Jury in the McKay–Crowder case has already returned an indictment, it is suspected that the current subpoenas relate to a separate case.

The subpoenas are only the latest step that the government has taken in its attempts to intimidate and silence activists protesting the RNC. Police actions in the Twin Cities have included house raids, pulling over and detaining activists at gunpoint, mass arrests, arbitrary searches, and vehicle impoundments.

The Texans ask that you stand with them in their continued struggle against the government’s war on activism and the First Amendment, the archaic and oppressive Grand Jury system, and the imprisonment, surveillance, harassment and intimidation of activists everywhere. They ask that you educate yourselves and your communities about the history and tactics of political repression, and how to resist it, especially in relation to Grand Juries. They also ask that you continue to raise money for all the activists who face long and costly legal battles resulting from the RNC protests.

Solidarity forever!

To find out more about supporting the Texas activists, contact: VanSolidarity (at) riseup.net

Brief Grand Jury reading list:
http://www.infoshop.org/breakingglasspress/GrandJuries.PDF
http://www.nocompromise.org/issues/22gj-craig.html
http://grandjuryresistance.org/