Victim has broken ribs & punctured lung from police beating
On Sept 23, cops brutally attacked band members and the crowd attending a Human Rights Fest in uptown Charlotte.
The event had been going great attracting a multinational crowd of some 200. Many people passing by stopped and joined in.
The
Human Rights Fest featured performances from Dirty South
Revolutionaries, Tax Slave, 25 Minutes To Go and Southside Punx. Band
members made political statements speaking against Bush, police
brutality, war, and making the point that uptown Charlotte was built by
the working class and the people had a right to be there.
As
Southside Punx was playing their last few songs, a cop told organizers
they had to shut it down because someone had set a piece of newspaper
laying on the ground on fire. David Dixon told him that the Action
Center For Justice had permits to be there until midnight, and the
event was almost over. The cop said he didn’t care, that “you have to
shut it down,” so Dixon told him that was being done.
The cop then said, “I don’t care. I got my boys coming.”
David Dixon stated, “We”re shutting it down and we”ll be out of here.”
The cop replied, “It doesn’t matter. I got my boys coming. They”ll be here in a minute,” and he chuckled.
A member of Southside Punx yelled into the crowd that we had a constitutional right to be there.
Suddenly
dozens of cops charged into the crowd, jumping on people and using
tasers on some. One person was beaten by several cops.
“My
friend was held on the ground at gun point for no reason. This was
after they tased him. Then I saw the cops shove another friend to the
ground and jump on top of him,” said Elizabeth Arrowood. “No one did
anything to deserve this.”
Brandon Magness with Southside Punx
said, “The cops rushed in tasing people and pulling guns. I had at
least 3 tasers pointed at me. My roommate got beat up. We were being
peaceful”
The cops then told Dixon and Magness that they could
arrest them and the band, as well as confiscate the band equipment, for
“inciting a riot.” They said Magness had been trying to incite the
crowd against the police while singing. That couldn’t be possible as
the dozens of cops that arrived weren’t there when the sound was turned
on. When Magness stated his innocence, he was arrested.
Dixon said, “It actually appeared the cops were trying to provoke the crowd and incite a riot.”
If
you witnessed the event or have any photos or video before, during or
after the police attacked please send them to actforjustice@yahoo.com
or call (704) 492-8527.
A campaign is being launched to demand
the charges against five of those arrested, now known as The Charlotte
Five, be dropped and any violations of their civil liberties be
addressed.
Sign the petition to drop the charges against the Charlotte Five at www.petitiononline.com/thefive.
More information will be posted at www.geocities.com/defendrights or call (704) 492-8527.
Victim has broken ribs & punctured lung from police beating
An update on Dave Crane’s condition from Brandon/Southside Punx:
As
Dave tried to calm down the cops that were harrassing Moss and Pete the
cops turned on him, he told the cops that they were wrong for what they
were doing and they responded by taking him down and beating him. Four
or five cops held him down beating him and when I went over to help the
cops pulled out their guns and taizers and made me and the others back
off. We took dave to the hospital today where they are treating him
overnight for BROKEN RIBS and A PUNCTURED LUNG, possibly more injurys
that they have yet to look at. Dave is a peaceful man and these injurys
were caused directly from the police. Anyone who was witness to this or
has, video, or pictures of this PLEASE STEP FOWARD.