Philadelphia police accuse protest leaders of directing violence, property damage
August 5, 2000
Web posted at: 12:37 PM EDT (1637 GMT)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) --
Displaying gasoline-soaked rags tied to chains and other items seized from protesters, police accused several prominent activists of orchestrating violence and property damage during the Republican National Convention.
Police Commissioner John Timoney
said the items, including piano wire and a three-person rubber slingshot, were intended to hurt officers during the convention.
"There's a cadre, if you will, of criminal conspirators who are about the business of planning conspiracies to go in and cause mayhem and cause property damage and cause violence in major cities in America that have large conventions or large numbers of people coming in for one reason or another," Timoney said Friday.
Police would not identify the people they considered the lead organizers of the sometimes violent demonstrations, beyond saying they were assigned the highest bails.
Prosecutors said bail was set at $1 million each for two people: John Sellers, 33, a leader of the Berkeley, California-based Ruckus Society, and Kate Sorensen, a leader of Philadelphia Direct Action Group. A third person was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Others in custody included leaders of Philadelphia ACT UP, the nation's largest chapter of the national AIDS advocacy group.
Activists dismissed the accusations., which were somewhat surprising because the groups have been acclaimed for inspiring nonviolent activism that has resulted in large, mostly peaceful demonstrations.
"There's no way for one organization or one individual to be accountable for the actions of everyone else," said Celia Alario, one of dozens of people with the Ruckus Society who helped train demonstrators before the Philadelphia convention.
Philadelphia ACT UP, Ruckus and the Direct Action Network were involved in training and organizing in two large demonstrations -- in Seattle last fall, and in Washington in April. Both were marred by hundreds of arrests and property damage that had been blamed on masked anarchists.
At the convention in Philadelphia, police said, gasoline-soaked rags tied to chains and a three-person rubber slingshot seized from protesters were similar to ones used in Seattle. The piano wire, police said, was to be used to string across streets and trip up police horses.
Police said 390 people have been arrested since Saturday, including 39 charged with felonies. More than 300 people were arrested Tuesday during sometimes-violent brawls with police and several traffic-blocking demonstrations.
Sellers, of the Ruckus Society, was jailed for misdemeanors including conspiracy and reckless endangerment. Terrence McGuckin, a leader of Philadelphia ACT UP, was being held on $500,000 bail for numerous misdemeanors. Sorensen, 34, was expected to face similar charges.
Defense lawyer Lawrence Krasner, who represents 10 jailed activists, said many of the protesters were held on unreasonably high bail to keep them in jail until the convention ended Thursday night.
"It's an unconscionable, ridiculous bail and completely off the map from the norm," Krasner said. "This is a desperate effort to systematically punish these people without a trial, to lock them up, keep them off the streets."
Many of the released protesters have complained police denied them food for up to 24 hours, denied injured activists medical treatment and crowded up to nine people into cells built for two. Lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union visited the detention areas and said there appeared to be no violations.
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/05/convention.protests.ap/index.html
That's the first one that came to mind. There are others if you'd like me to remind you of them. 
