first amendment

UPDATE: Full Video from Monday Press Conference (Mobile Broadcast News) | More Info | At the conclusion of the Pittsburgh G20 summit and resistance, videos of police brutality produced by G-Infinity Media (project of Pittsburgh IMC) have received hundreds of thousands of hits.  But independent journalists behind the people's perspective coverage of the summit were targeted by authorities during the worst of the police riots Friday night at the University of Pittsburgh.

Twin Cities Independent Media Center reporter Melissa Hill was among at least six journalists arrested.  "Police pointed riot control projectile launchers at our heads," said Hill. "I repeatedly identified myself as a member of the press, and when I was released five hours later, my camera was returned to me broken, and the recordable DVD with my footage on it was stolen." (This video was made by the Twin Cities' Nigel Parry the next morning.)

Additionally, a Blaine man who came to Pittsburgh to film events for G-Infinity was arrested Friday night and is still in jail as of 8am central time Monday.  Nathan Monkelien was given five charges: two felony aggravated assaults, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and failure to disperse. (View his charge sheet - PDF) Below: TCIMC/Glass Bead Collective/Thomas Merton Center Press Release with More Info from Pittsburgh | View all videos from Glassbeadian channel | All TCIMC dispatches/photos

Students and teachers at West Fargo High School in North Dakota plan on protesting the removal of teacher Jeremy Murphy as adviser of the school's newspaper.

Read more: http://activism.suite101.com/article.cfm/west_fargo_protest_over_student_newspaper#ixzz0KJ9SWQRd&C
 

On Wednesday, April 22, the Woodbury city council is expected to vote, and
pass, an ordinance banning residential picketing in the city of Woodbury.

This ordinance is being proposed in response to a half dozen pickets that
happened at the homes of 3M executives this past summer because of 3M's
connection to an animal testing company called Huntingdon Life Sciences.
The police themselves have stated that no laws were broken, the protesters
were peaceful, and the protesters even cooperated with the police when
asked to leave.

St. Paul City Attorney John Choi has a 1 for 10 (or 1 for 34, depending on how you look at it) record in RNC misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor convictions; only Sean McCoy, a Montana street medic, was convicted on a single charge out of 10 defendants and 34 charges brought to trial thus far.  Judge Edward Wilson sentenced McCoy last month to a $50 fine plus an additional $31 in costs for the conviction on one count of Public Assembly Without a Permit.  Yesterday, McCoy and National Lawyers Guild attorney Bruce Nestor filed a motion asking the court to order a new trial.