Charges against RNC protesters tossed

Charges against 227 anti-war protesters who were arrested during the Republican National Convention were dismissed by a Manhattan Criminal Court judge Wednesday at the request of the district attorney's office.

Judge Katherine Fried dropped disorderly conduct and parading without a permit charges after being told that the march, sponsored by the War Resisters League, was nonviolent and resulted in neither personal nor property damage.

One protest defendant, Richard Hardie, 73, a retired Air Force major and furniture designer of Northampton, Mass., appeared in court. He said he had been prepared to go to trial but he never intended to plead guilty.

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/newyork/politics/ny-bc-ny--convention-protes1006oct06,0,2941205.story?coll=nyc-homepage-headlines

More fodder for the lawsuit.

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It is the morons who gave the cops the orders to arrest these people. The cops were just following orders. And it should be an issue come election time for the mayor and every other elected official.

:shrug:

illegal. Since no one was hurt I would prefer not to hassle the cops anymore than they are already. They have enough on their plates fighting the repugs and budget cuts without us piling on. I wish they could have refused en masse not to arrest anyone but the event was just so much bigger than just the cops. If they hadn't made any arrests and someone got hurt in the meantime, their butts would have been in a sling, too.

Too many little fish with the cops, I want the big guys who thought the orders were appropriate. Just my two cents worth.

I was in NYC for the demonstrations and the only people looking for a fight were a couple of Rethugs walking around with fists clenched and Shrub shirts. Even the cops, at least the ones I saw, were well behaved, if not bored.