Steve Pleich facilitated the general assembly, held on the steps of the Santa Cruz Post Office, and read the resolution before Occupy Santa Cruz adopted it. The resolution:

Proposal to Demand an End to the Prosecution of the River Street Defendants

The following proposal to demand the end to the prosecution of the River Street defendants has been submitted by the Legal Working Group to be discussed at the Occupy Santa Cruz General Assembly on Sunday 29April2012 at 2PM.

OCCUPY SANTA CRUZ
PROPOSED RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT

WHEREAS, Occupy Santa Cruz believes that all of the defendants charged in the River Street action are either journalists, members of our local press, and/or activists committed to Social Justice, the Occupy Movement, and particularly Occupy Santa Cruz and,
WHEREAS, Occupy Santa Cruz believes that the constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly may not be abridged by governmental fiat, and
WHEREAS, Occupy Santa Cruz believes that civil liberties are being broadly threatened by the continuing prosecution of these cases, and
WHEREAS, Occupy Santa Cruz believes that the criminal offenses prosecuted by our local District Attorney are overly broad and overreaching in consideration of the facts, and,
WHEREAS Occupy Santa Cruz believes that these defendants are being selectively prosecuted in a manner directly related to the existing adversarial relationship several of these defendants have with local police, past and present civic officials and the District Attorney’s office and,
WHEREAS Occupy Santa Cruz believes that the Constitution of the United States of America and simple social justice require that the enormous power of government be exercised fairly and evenhandedly, and not based on the identity or past actions of the defendants and,
WHEREAS Occupy Santa Cruz believes that these defendants posed no threat to public order or private property by their actions either as chroniclers of the events or as supporters of the River Street action,
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED THAT Occupy Santa Cruz calls for the immediate dismissal of all charges presently lodged against the River Street defendants and further calls for an end to all further prosecutions based upon any and all participation by any member of our community in the River Street action.

RESOLVED THIS 29TH DAY OF APRIL, 2012 IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA

http://occupysantacruz.org/2012/04/28/proposal-to-demand-an-end-to-the-prosecution-of-the-river-street-defendants/


Alex Darocy
http://alexdarocy.blogspot.com/
I am one of the eleven defendants charged, and I did not have anything to do with the crafting of this statement, and I do not necessarily endorse it.