Philly police pin young black man to the ground with their knees, swat our field reporter with a baton for filming the scene.
“Beat it.”
“I’m a journalist, sir!”
“I don’t care what you are. Beat it.”
In a scene echoing George Floyd’s death, tonight @PhillyPolice kneeled on a young black man’s neck as another officer already had him pinned. Officer w knee on neck called him a “pussy” shortly before other cops batoned our camera away fom the scene
We’ve ended our ground reporting from Philadelphia for the night due to repeated assaults by officers on our reporter making it unsafe and impractical to continue. Our Philly staff is safe at home now but Philly Police made it clear our 1st Amendment press freedoms are suspended
In Philly tonight we repeatedly saw some officers charging ahead to beat people with batons while their commanders yelled at them to stop and hold their line. Police personnel generally seemed quite on edge and quick to verbally insult, taunt, and push/strike protesters
Whether police command structures can actually control their rank and file during these escalating protests is a question we find ourselves asking a lot
Anger at #GeorgeFloyd’s murder has spilled over into Philadelphia, PA today – fires and looting across center city, City Hall is at least partially on fire
These fires were cop cars on fire on the North side of Philadelphia city hall
Philadelphia: Windows of Wells Fargo at 15 and Chestnut have been smashed. Graffiti seen saying “Fuck 12” and #NoDAPL.
Philly Police are holding line but outnumbered and many projectiles thrown.
Small fire started near Wells Fargo as protesters stand off with police in #Philadelphia while seeking #Justice4GeorgeFloyd. Many stores are being broken into and goods are being expropriated.
First, a big thank you to those saying “fuck the police!”
This statement is our written expression of solidarity to the Twin Cities rioters and against all police.
We are saddened and angry to hear about the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. But we are not surprised.
We support the actions of racial justice by whatever means participants deem necessary. We urge people who are ideologically opposed to certain freedoms of dissent to step aside. Interventinon, especially by white people, will support further police terrorism. Respect a diversity of tactics. Our experience has shown that power and white supremacy doesn’t give up voluntarily, and neither will we.
Don’t attack each other. Understand that this isn’t simply about the choices and actions of individuals, but is a product of the racist system that we live under.
We believe that solidarity is our greatest weapon against state repression.
We need to take care of each other, so we can be dangerous together.
It is our duty and commitment to support those who fight back against police terrorism of black, brown and indigenous communities. We’ve been with you in Baltimore, Charlottesville, DC, and of course Philly. We will march with you as legal observers, call the bail commissioner to see that we can help you out of jail, host trainings at your request, and in some cases get locked up with you.
We want you to know you are not alone in this fight.
We are watching from Philadelphia, and we will support those fighting locally, as we always have.
Please visit our Stop Snitching On Yourself series on our website and arm yourself with the legal ways of dealing with law enforcement, which includes what to do if you witness police brutality.
*Know that we are an all volunteer collective that is committed to mutual aid and community empowerment. We do not solicit donations, but these MN orgs could use resources: http://justiceforgeorgefloyd.link
In the wee hours of the morning of 05/29 we performed a meager act in remembrance of George Floyd and in support of our accomplices throwing down in so-called mpls, st. paul, memphis, louisville, nyc, la, phoenix and wherever else folx are fighting against the constant plague that is the police. Mpls burned down a fucking police station! You are all so inspiring , hope this little message shows a bit of love coming out of philly.
RIP GEORGE FLOYD, RIP AHMAUD ARBERY, RIP BREONNA TAYLOR, RIP PHILANDO CASTILE, and all the other people who have been murdered by the pigs and their white supremacist collaborators. Fuck reform, it’s about revenge, been a long time comin.
FUCK 12
FUCK THIS RACIST COUNTRY
BURN IT THE FUCK DOWN, NOTHING LESS!
Definition. A riot is a form of popular warfare in which a crowd engages in a variety of illegal and violent activities. These can include property destruction and looting; disrupting lines of transportation; street fighting against the police and/or military. Like all forms of revolutionary warfare, those who participate in riots assume the risk of injury, imprisonment, and/or death.
Wildcat walkout at Milk and Honey! “We as the employees of Milk and Honey Market have been called back to work without consultation about our needs in this moment of crisis, leaving many of us in precarious situations with regards to health, housing and safety. We have demanded that the owners acknowledge outlet group for collective bargaining, and have made a list of demands for what we need to keep ourselves and our customers safe. These demands included:
Adequate PPE for all staff at all times, and the ability to stop service if this is not available.
Appropriate signage for customers and employees about government guidelines regarding safety during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Resources for navigating interactions with customers or staff who do not follow these guidelines
An emergency plan in place should an employee show signs of or test positive for Covid 19
15$/hr minimum pay for all employees moving forward.
In response to these demands, the owners posted a sign today seeking new employees with a starting pay of 17$/hr, 2$ more than they offered to pay longtime staff who were willing to return to a safe environment. We as a staff have collectively decided not to return to work until the owners acknowledge our group and meet all of our demands. We have also updated our demands to ask for 17$/hr to reflect the wages they are offering new hires. We encourage others in the community not to accept employment or shop at milk and honey until these demands have been met.” #SolidarityForever#AnInjuryToOneIsAnInjuryToAll
The workers at @milkandhoneymkt on Baltimore Ave are forming a union. Please support them as more information and action steps come out.
The workers declare CLASS WAR IS BLACK LIBERATION! SOLIDARITY WITH MINNEAPOLIS! REST IN POWER, GEORGE FLOYD!
@eat_milk_and_honey workers went on strike. Instead of listening to reasonable demands, and out of hatred of employees asking for safer working conditions and a fair wage, they are attempting to hire scab replacements at a higher rate then the workers were asking for. DO NOT CROSS THE PICKET LINE! Demo to support the workers at 7:30am tomorrow @milkandhoneyrelief
from Philly ABC
Our letter writing event for this month will be for Marius Mason, who has unfortunately been recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and will be fighting the virus from behind bars. Marius was chosen both because of his diagnosis and also because of the fast-approaching June 11th International Day of Solidarity with Marius and all long-term Anarchist prisoners.
The event will be held on May 25th at 6:30 PM. Due to COVID-19, this event will be held online using the secure open source video conferencing platform, Jitsi. Privacy is encouraged – no one is expected to share their camera. The meeting details will be posted here a day before the event.
Background: Marius Mason is a transgender, environmental and animal rights activist. In 1999, in the name of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) he set fire to a lab at the University of Michigan that was conducting research on genetically modified organisms (GMO). After Marius’ husband turned states-evidence, Marius was threatened with a life sentence for the arson and other acts of sabotage. With little financial stability and fear of dragging his family into a costly legal battle, Marius pled guilty and was given an extreme sentence of nearly 22 years. No one was ever harmed in any of his actions.
Marius lived and worked in the Detroit area for most of his life. Like the late Earth First! (EF!) organizer, Judi Bari, he was part of a generation of radicals who worked to link the environmental and labor movements, and was jointly active in both EF! and the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It was this alliance which led to the initial success of the anti-globalization movement such as at the 1999 anti-WTO demonstration in Seattle. Mason was an editor of the Industrial Worker, the IWW newspaper, and a musician who recorded a neo-folk album, Not For Profit, with fellow EF!er Darryl Cherney in 1999. He also worked with numerous political as well as traditional charity groups.
If you are unable to join us on Jitsi, please send Marius a letter anyways:
5/8/2020: Counterprotesters to the ReOpen Philadelphia protest block and disrupt the event.
The anti-fascist group, along with independent political actors blocked, diverted and diminished the caravan away from the City Hall roundabout.
Philadelphia, PA– Anti-quarantine and pro-Trump activists sought a successful anti-quarantine car caravan protest around City Hall Friday. But the demonstration ended with a whimper as opposing protesters caused problems for them.
In addition, the Philadelphia chapter of the neo-fascist Proud Boys, who announced a three hour joint protest time for a rally outside City Hall’s Dilworth Plaza that was supposed to start at noon, ended up not showing up at all.
The car caravan moved en mass from the south at Broad and Oregon Streets, towards City Hall. At the intersection of Chestnut and Broad Street, they were stopped by activists who went into the street and blocked them for up to 15 minutes. The car caravan was able to proceed when police arrived and cleared the roadway.
One of the vehicles that were a part of the Branch Covidian outing.
The caravan made a few spins around City Hall but it was again disrupted once again on the west side of City Hall where Market Street intersects with 15th Street when a line of roughly a half-dozen cars that were a part of a counter-action organized by Refuse Fascism intercepted the caravan at the stop light and blocked the intersection. After paralyzing the caravan, they got out their cars to chant and “banner drop.” One side of the banner said “Trump-Pence Must Go” and the other side said “REOPEN = DEATH.”
This is where the Proud Boys were going to be if they didn’t punk out.
After another 15 minutes or so the Refuse Fascism contingent left this major intersection, and left the anti-quarantine caravan seriously irritated. One caravan supporter reportedly threatened to slash the tires of the counter-demonstrators’ cars. No damage was observed however.
Soon after, police re-“routed” traffic away from City Hall, taking it off JFK Boulevard and moving it on to North Broad Street, and, Arch Street for a three block detour. This severed the caravan’s mass as it was fractured into small groups. Further aiding in this were counter-demonstrator elements within the caravan who instigated further interference. After approximately 80 minutes of a 180 minute-planned demonstration, large swaths of the car caravan were seen driving away from City Hall, heading in the direction of South Philadelphia.
Conservatives keep trying to pretend that neo-fascists that make them look bad are some sort of leftist plot. Why do they think that works?
The rally was organized by ReOpen Philadelphia, which was started by Victor Della Barba and his mother Jody, both longtime right wing activists in the city, Jody working as a secretary for Former Mayor Frank Rizzo, who was known for his racially polarizing efforts against the Black community. In addition to their Facebook page, there is another called ReOpen Philly, of which Proud Boy Zach Rehl is an administrator. The Philadelphia Proud Boys announced on their Telegram page that they were holding their rally at City Hall “to protest the unethical actions of tyrannical government arresting people for not closing their businesses!” At noon, there was no activity on Dilworth Plaza where they were supposed to hold their rally. At the time of this posting, the Proud Boys have not explained their absence.
Tensions flared on the ReOpen Philadelphia page over ReOpen Philly’s activities, prompting some there to disavow any association with the Proud Boy-related page. In 2018, Facebook banned the Proud Boys and any pages related to the group from its platform, but some like Sports, Beer and Politics, also maintained by Rehl, still remain, and they still create new ones such as ReOpen Philly.
This was one of the first times there was a counter to the ReOpen rallies that have been taking place across the country in the wake of the pandemic shutdown. “We stood up for science over willful ignorance, humanity first, not ‘America first;’ and chanted ‘Humanity, not Me-Me-Me.’” Refuse Fascism Philly posted to their Facebook page. “We are facing the immediate prospect of hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths from this regime’s handling of the pandemic alone, and they are using this to advance their fascist, genocidal agenda. It’s time to get organized to drive them from power.”
Pennsylvania has seen over 50,000 cases of Covid-19 and almost 3,500 deaths. Gov. Tom Wolf has said the shut down could extend into July.
UPDATE: 5/11/2020: This article was updated to note Jody Della Barba’s history with former Philadelphia mayor Frank Rizzo.
Another “Proud Boy.” He goes by “Jesus Tsirch” on FB and he is the main admin of the group.
Jack Gillespie. Former Philly Cop and owner of the bar that invited Nazi metal bands and hosted “Proud Boy” recruiting events. Also, big mad that Muslims can vote. 6abc.com/vandalism-racism-we…
