Victory for the Charleston Five!

"It's over," Ken Riley told Labor Notes at 9:15am on Thursday November 8th. An hour before, attorneys for the Charleston 5 had agreed that the 5 would plead no contest to a magistrate-level offense, walking away from their long ordeal with $100 fines.

Ever since South Carolina Attorney General Charlie Condon bowed out of the case a few weeks ago, hopes had been high that a negotiated settlement could be reached.

The statute under which the 5 are pleading uses the language "riot, rout or affray." "We're stressing the 'affray,'" Riley said. The statute also refers to no weapons being used and no wound inflicted.

"It's a tremendous victory, considering what we were stacked up against," said Riley. "Condon had called for 'jail, jail and more jail'." He even said he wanted these guys to be placed under the jail.

"From that day to this there's been an all-out campaign to counter that type of aggression. We owe the victory to the unrelenting pressure of the movement."

The demonstrations and possible port shut-downs worldwide that had been planned for November 14 will be cancelled, Riley said.