Des militants de MOVE harcelés par la police à Philadelphie

Mumia/MOVE Supporters HARASSED by philly cops!

STATEMENT FROM MOVE/INT'L CONCERNED FAMILY & FRIENDS OF MUMIA :

On Thursday, November 15th at about 10:30 p.m. 2 MOVE supporters, active in the struggle to free the MOVE 9 and Mumia Abu-Jamal, were taken into custody and harassed by Philadelphia police. The two supporters were putting up posters calling for freedom for Mumia at the corner of 46th & Market Street in Philadelphia, when a police car stopped at the intersection's traffic light. When the light changed, the police drove away, and the two men continued walking down Market Street towards 45th. The cops circled the block to see what had been put up. Seconds later they put on their flashing lights and sped up to at least 50 miles an hour down Market Street. The cops pulled onto the sidewalk: slamming on the brakes, swerving to not hit a support pole for the elevated subway train, and nearly hitting one of the supporters as they came to a sudden stop. The cops jumped out of the car and grabbed the bucket of wheatpaste (throwing it to the ground) and posters, and told the supporters to "Get up against the wall." As the supporters were being patted down and their possessions were searched one cop called them "fucking mumidiots" and ordered them to get into the car.

Both cops covered their badge numbers and the supporters were forced into the car so quick they could not see the number of the squad car. The cops pulled onto the sidewalk on the corner of 46th & Market; ordered the supporters out of the car and told them to scrape off a Mumia poster from several weeks earlier that was firmly stuck to the surface. The two supporters struggled to remove the poster while the cops stood over them laughing and making jokes. One cop took the stack of Mumia posters and threw them into the gutter saying "This'll teach you not to support a 'cop-killer.'" The supporters were then forced back into the squad car and told that they would be taken to the station to be processed. After 10 minutes of driving around, zigzagging through alleyways and speeding up to 75 miles per hour through residential neighborhoods (one of the supporters was able to see the speedometer); one of the cops said, "I don't feel like doing the paperwork" and so he decided to take the supporters on a tour of "the bullshit we have to go through on a daily basis", and said "Once you see the slime we have to deal with everyday maybe you'll respect us more."

Attempting to confuse the two supporters, the cops drove in circles and eventually headed into the projects near 46th & Fairmount (an almost exclusively black neighborhood). In the projects the cops chose to drive on people's yards instead of in the street and began harassing people in the community. The cops then drove into a small dark alley and stopped the car - the supporters assumed they were going to be beaten or maybe shot. However, the cops started driving again, until they came to a block that had between 15 & 20 young black men on it. Here they stopped and ordered the 2 white MOVE supporters out of the car. Loud enough so the whole block could hear, one cop said, "It looks like there are going to be a lot more cops around here for a little while." Then he said, "You see these black people really are nice you just have to know how to treat them." Then under his breath and so only the two white MOVE supporters could hear, "Let's see how you like them niggers now." Then the cops drove off hoping the two white MOVE supporters would get beat up by the crowd of young black men. As the cops
drove away the people from the community came up to the 2 white MOVE supporters and asked them what was going on. The supporters explained what had happened, about how they were being harassed for fighting for Mumia Abu-Jamal and how the police wanted to set up a situation where they would attack these 2 MOVE supporters. In turn, the people from the block started telling the MOVE supporters about some of the things that cops do to them; one neighbor said, "Those fucking racist cops, they always doin' this kind of shit." Another neighbor said, "Man we got no problem with you. Just go on your way. You're cool." After a short discussion with the people on the block, the MOVE supporters left and walked back to their car.

What those cops did to those MOVE supporters is TERRORISM! Those supporters were not taken into custody for committing a crime. They were not put in that police squad car to be shown what is right. Those cops THREATENED them to attempt to intimidate them in the hope that they would stop working to Free Mumia, stop working to Free the MOVE 9, stop working to Free all Political Prisoners, and stop working to fight against injustice towards all life. They were NOT charged with any crime yet they were snatched off the street and threatened by cops. These are the same terroristic tactics that this government claims to be fighting. How can this country ever hope to attain peace when they are endorsing the same injustice that they claim to be against?