The Independent November 15 2017 Independent November 15 2017 | Page 7

Jailing journalists
The Independent, the Diaspora’s Multicultural Voice November 15 2017 7
Inauguration day anti-Trump protestors facing jail terms up to 61 years
By Patrick Strickland
AL JAZEERA
A trial that could send independent journalist
Alexei Wood and six others to prison for decades
started on Wednesday.
When Wood, 37, travelled from his hometown
of San Antonio, Texas, to Washington, DC, to cover
the anti-fascist bloc demonstration against the in-
auguration of US President Donald Trump on Jan-
uary 20, he did not imagine he would wind up
with a slew of felonies.
But on that day, Wood, who livestreamed the
march on his Facebook page, was kettled and ar-
rested by police with more than 230 others, includ-
ing protesters, bystanders, legal observers and
medics.
"I feel righteous in my innocence," he told Al
Jazeera the day before the trial, "but a lot is riding
on it: the future of journalism and protesting."
With the weight of the charges and trial, Wood
was forced to put his journalism career on hold.
"I don't have the time or energy to focus to try
to make sense of the world in little bits and com-
municate that," he explained.
"I only have enough time to focus on my exact
situation right now. It's definitely impacted me."
Wood and six co-defendants are the first group
of nearly 200 people still facing charges related to
rioting and property damage for their alleged par-
ticipation in Inauguration Day protests.
Tens of thousands of people descended on the
capital on January 20 to protest Trump's first day
as president.
During an anti-fascist bloc march, police
clashed with protesters and carried out mass ar-
rests that swept up demonstrators, bystanders,
legal observers, journalists and medics. More than
230 people were subsequently charged with
felonies.
A handful of protesters engaged in property de-
struction, smashing windows and ATMs as they
made their way through the capital's streets. The
US Attorney's Office for the DC says the damage
totaled more than $100,000.
On April 27, the Superior Court of the DC re-
turned a superseding indictment which added ad-
ditional charges for some 212 defendants, three of
whom had not previously been charged.
Many of those who were facing felony charges
later pleaded out for significantly reduced charges,
while some others had their charges dropped alto-
gether.
More than 190 people are still slated to go to
trial.
"Most days, this seems so clearly absurd and ob-
viously political. Other days, the machine can
grind me down," Wood said.
At the time of publication, the US Attorney's Of-
Journalist Alexei Wood is facing a slew of felony charges
fice for the DC had not responded to Al Jazeera's
request for a comment.
A separate batch of defendants, who will head
to court in December, have had their felony
charges reduced, and are now only facing three
misdemeanors.
Although some felony charges have been re-
duced for everyone, the bulk of the defendants
could still end up in jail for more than 60 years.
"The reduction of charges for the second trial
group but not the first seems to be in line with the
arbitrary nature of the rest of the case," Sam Mene-
fee-Libey, an activist with the DC Legal Posse sup-
port group, told Al Jazeera by telephone ahead of
Wednesday's court date.
"It's a partial win, but a lot of people are still fac-
ing a lot of time behind bars, and we won't quit
until everyone's free," he said.
"It's important that we fight even harder in
order to get all of the charges dropped. All the
charges should be dropped, and the only way to
get there is through solidarity."
Defendants, activists and watchdogs accuse the
government of stacking the charges against the de-
fendants in order to distract from alleged police
misconduct on the day of the protest.
In June, the American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of four plaintiffs
who were detained during the anti-fascist bloc
march on January 20.
The ACLU lawsuit says the police used "over-
whelming and unlawful force" against "non-vio-
demonstrators
at
largely
peaceful
lent
demonstrations where some law-breaking" oc-
curred.
The allegations in that lawsuit include the claim
that police did not issue adequate dispersal warn-
ings during the demonstration, unnecessarily de-
ployed chemical agents - such as pepper spray -
against people who were already surrounded, and
executed forceful rectal examinations on some of
the detainees.
The Washington, DC Office of Police Com-
plaints issued a report earlier this year that said the
city's police department may have violated some
policies. It called for an independent investigation
by a controversial group that has close ties to po-
lice.
Dylan Petrohilos, a 28-year-old defendant who
could still go to prison for some 61 years, said the
case is "just absurd".
"It's a fact that people may spend the rest of
their lives in jail because of this," he told Al Jazeera
by telephone. "The reality is that mass arrests hap-
pened without probable cause or proper dispersal
warnings."
Petrohilos described the arrests as part of a
broader crackdown on protests across the country.
In September, following a not-guilty verdict for
a white police officer who killed Anthony Lamar
Harris, a 24-year-old African American, in 2011,
protests erupted in St Louis, Missouri. Police ar-
rested more than 300 people in 18 days.
Many were dealt rioting charges, including
some felonies and other misdemeanors.
Some 600 people were charged over their al-
leged involvement in protests last year against the
Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, North
Dakota, where demonstrators pushed back against
what they described as plans to steal Native Amer-
ican land.
While most were charged with misdemeanors,
some are facing felonies.
Referring to the charges over the Inauguration
Day, St Louis and Standing Rock protests, Petrohi-
los said: "There is a concerted effort to crack down
on the rights of organising and dissent in the US
right now."
For Alexei Wood, he also believes that the gov-
ernment hopes to create a chilling effect on protest-
ers and journalists.
"This has nothing to do with innocence - you ei-
ther survive the system or you don't," Wood's
lawyer recently told him.
"It's my speculation that they could care less
about the broken windows," Wood concluded.
"The government wants blood. With the politi-
cal climate being anti-press, it doesn't surprise me
that I'm here."