Picariello trial: local victory against police repression (Boston)

[struggle4progress]

On March 7, after two years of hearings and as many as 16 appearances at the Boston Municipal Court, charges against Richard Picariello were finally dismissed. <snip>

The charges in the first arrest were for "stickering"—putting up an adhesive sign in a public place—, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. The MBTA police who made the arrest provided no evidence of the stickering. They relied on a police informant who said he was a caretaker of an office building across the street from the T station. The informant said he was upset with the antiwar messages being placed on a public utility box on the sidewalk outside his building, and of the trouble he had to take to remove them. <snip>

The second arrest happened in the midst of a protest at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel where George W. Bush was attending at a posh Republican Party fundraiser. In the streets outside the hotel were some 4,000 Boston area residents protesting Bush's policies of war and aggression. The protesters spoke about Haiti, about Palestine, Iraq, organized labor, and many other issues. They loudly voiced their disgust, from behind police lines, at the $1,000-a-plate dinners being served to wealthy Bush supporters inside the hotel.

Richard Picariello was caught on a side street away from the main area of the protest, this time by special police force called the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). With 4,000 people yelling and beating drums, he alone was charged with disorderly conduct. He was arrested because he had been profiled beforehand and specifically targeted. The police were careful to make the arrest in a place where there were no witnesses. <snip>

http://bridgenews.org/news/042006/pictrial

[400Years]

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