ORGANIZING
LEGAL SUPPORT
FOR DIRECT ACTION
MASS DEMONSTRATIONS
National Lawyers Guild
District of Columbia Chapter
May 2000
The
November 1999 W.T.O. demonstrations in Seattle and April 2000 World Bank/IMF
demonstrations in Washington, D.C. have energized a new activist political
movement against the global corporate economy.
These
demonstrations have gone on continuously for several days. Direct action
has been widely used by activists. Much activity has been spontaneous.
Huge numbers of arrests have occurred. Jail solidarity tactics have been
employed. The response of national and local law enforcement to all of
this has been harsh and will probably get worse. For all of these reasons,
substantial advance preparation for these demonstrations by Guild chapters
is necessary in order to serve this new political movement effectively.
Similar
major demonstrations are likely to occur this summer in the convention
cities of Los Angeles and Philadelphia, as well as in other cities during
the period ahead. This brief outline is based on our experience in April
2000 in Washington, D.C. We hope it will assist other Guild chapters.
Organizing
Needed Before the Demonstration
- Invite
and recruit participation of Guild members and other legal groups like
the NCBL, ACLU, public defender organizations, private criminal defense
bar, etc. The demonstration legal team should be a joint project of
all progressive legal groups and their members.
- Hold
weekly legal team preparation meetings for 7 or 8 weeks prior to the
demonstration. Invite and recruit all interested lawyers, law students
and legal workers to attend these meetings. Meetings should also have
activists in attendance to update the legal team on demonstration plans
and issues and to explain and answer questions on the various forms
and tactics of jail solidarity. Lawyers invariably have concerns, often
strong concerns, with jail solidarity tactics. In order that lawyers
don't undermine solidarity after arrests begin, it is important that
all legal team members fully understand jail solidarity.
- Develop
lists of attorneys on the demonstration legal team with home, office
and cell phone numbers, email, and what each person will commit to doing
and what times each will be available.
- Set
up an open email list serve for all members of the legal team. Have
the general website of the demonstration refer to this legal list serve
so that out of town lawyers and law students can also plug in.
- Set
up small committees or list of lawyers with expertise or special needs
that are anticipated during the demonstration, e.g., juvenile cases,
grand jury subpoenas, immigration, felonies.
- Determine
whether the direct action activists have a policy of no prenegotiations
with the police, prosecutors or courts and act accordingly.
- Some
activists should attend all legal team meetings. Legal team members
should try to attend as many of the activist planning meetings and training
sessions as possible.
- Set
up a legal team subgroup (involve ACLU in this) on first amendment issues
and possible first amendment litigation to be brought before and during
demonstration. Key organizers of the demonstration should be part of
this sub©group to authorize any litigation, identify persons to
sign supporting affidavits, etc.
- Advise
demonstration organizers that in addition to the usual police harassment,
surveillance, and infiltration they should be aware of the likelihood
of preemptive strikes (arrests, raids on demonstration headquarters/training
sites, etc.) by police attempting to disrupt the demonstration before
it begins. This preemptive strike strategy was used by the police in
D.C. The demonstration headquarters were raided and closed, banners
and literature were impounded, and over 600 people were arrested all
on the day before the demonstrations here were to begin. This preemptive
strike strategy will undoubtedly be copied by police in other cities.
- If
the Midnight Special Law Collective is part of the demonstration, it
is important that they be made welcome and made a part of the overall
legal team as quickly as possible. The MSLC will play a crucial role
before, during and after the demonstration. MSLC has an existing trust
relationship with the direct action demonstrators and has jail solidarity
training and implementation skills. MSLC will also provide essential
training for legal team members in how to work with and support jail
solidarity. MSLC has an administrative capability that will prove vital
to the legal team during and after the demonstration. They will assist
the local legal team in many ways. In D.C., for one example, the phone
calls and questions of over a thousand arrested demonstrators and their
friends were directed to the MSLC. This took a huge burden off the D.C.
based legal team. MSLC also has detailed written handouts for activists
explaining various legal issues and jail solidarity tactics.
Pre-Demonstration
Litigation
In
Washington, before the demonstration the police widely and publicly said
the demonstration would be violent citing Seattle, intercepted emails,
etc. The press accepted this. We should have aggressively fought this
characterization. A week before the demonstration, for instance, the police
announced that a huge part of downtown D.C. around the World Bank would
be cordoned off to avoid violence. We should have taken them to court
immediately on the size of this cordoned off area. This"violent" characterization,
if allowed to go unchallenged, will be repeated over and over by the police
(and the press) as their justification for preemptive strikes and repressive
police actions against the demonstrators.
Prepare
the papers ahead of time to seek an emergency court order on access to
counsel. In D.C., and we are informed also in Seattle, detained activists
were made to wait up to two days before seeing their attorneys and they
were requesting attorneys by name while their attorneys were standing
outside the police lock ups unable to gain access.
Legal
Observers
- Prepare
written instructional materials for legal observers.
- distinctive
hats, arm bands, etc.
- legal
observer reporting forms.
- arrange
and publicize time and place of legal observer training sessions to
be held several weeks before and also a day or two before the demonstration.
Put on website so out of town legal folks can attend training and serve
as legal observers
- Legal
observers with cell phones need list of as many cell phone numbers as
possible.
- Legal
observer coordinating committee. One of their tasks is to dispatch observers
to where conflict is occurring. This is difficult given the mobile nature
of small affinity groups of demonstrators. Regular cell phone contact
is necessary; consider assigning legal observers to specific locations.
- Legal
observer dispatchers should be scheduled 24 hours a day during demonstration
days, and should be integrated with the protester's communication/ logistics
team.
Legal
Team Office
- A
guild lawyers office; multiple phone lines; bring in a couple of TVs
to monitor live demonstration coverage; office staffing by legal team
members © lawyers, students or legal workers; schedule office staffers
ahead of time.
- During
demonstration days keep office open 24 hours a day have 3 or 4 people
staffing during demonstration.
- continue
staffing office after demonstration during jail solidarity phase with
2 or 3 people. Press calls will increase.
- Office
functions: communication/command center for legal team; deploy lawyers
and legal observer; contact point for out of town lawyers, students;
handle press calls; legal team meeting site; place for legal team members
to check in, hang out; etc.
Lawyer
Deployment During the Demonstration
- To
lockups/temporary holding areas when arrests first occur. Jail solidarity
support. Lawyer should be accompanied by an activist organizer experienced
with legal issues and with jail solidarity tactics.
- To
court for mass arraignments © all night sessions, need list of
lawyers available to pull long hours. Activist/organizer experienced
with legal issues and with jail solidarity tacticsshould be present.
- To
jail for jail solidarity support/ decision making facilitation. Activist
organizer experienced with legal issues and jail solidarity tactics
should accompany lawyer.
- The
demonstration will go on for several days. On subsequent days you should
be prepared to deploy lawyers and activists simultaneously to holding
areas, the court and jail.
- Negotiations
- a legal team negotiating conduit between demonstrators engaging in
jail solidarity and prosecutors. The lawyer or lawyers serving as the
negotiating conduit should work closely with several activist/organizers
experienced with legal issues and solidarity tactics.
- Special
deployments: representation of activists subpoenaed by grand jury; juvenile
cases, immigration problems, felony charges.
- Press
statements/ TV interviews. The office of the legal team will get hundreds
of media calls during the demonstration and while jail solidarity continues.
These calls all need to be handled in an accurate and politically effective
way. In addition, a legal person should be assigned to work with the
demonstration'smedia office and assist them on legal issues.
Post
Demonstration Activities
- Debriefing
meetings of legal team.
- Gather,
collate and organize individual demonstrator complaint forms and legal
observer forms, photos, videotape.
- follow
up open criminal cases; follow up individual police brutality civil
cases. Make sure legal representation and investigation in place.
- possible
public responses to massive police repression and denial of First Amendment
rights: www.nlg.org
[http://www.a16.org]
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