The District Attorney of Alameda County is still attempting to prosecute 25 persons arrested at the Port of Oakland on April 7, 2003. Over the last several months there has been a series of pretrial hearings. At the hearing today, Judge C. Don Clay is expected to decide whether the case of the Oakland 25 will go to trial. Defense attorneys will present motions to demur and dismiss charges for “vindictive prosecution” against defendants whose only “crime” was to exercise their First Amendment rights. The defendants are being charged with several misdemeanors including “disrupting a business” and “creating a public nuisance.” Before the hearing today there was a rally of several hundred labor and antiwar activists in front of the courthouse.

1_unity_on_the_waterfront...