November 24, 2003 04:14 PM US Eastern Timezone
News From USWA: Steelworkers Calls for Congressional Investigation into
Police-State Assaults in Miami
PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 24, 2003--News From USWA: Union
condemns use of federal Iraq reconstruction funds to subsidize "homeland
repression" at FTAA meetings
The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) is calling for a Congressional
investigation into "a massive police state," created in part with
federal funds, to intimidate union members and others critical of the
proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and limit their rights
during FTAA meetings in Miami last week.
"Last week, the fundamental rights of thousands of Americans ... were
blatantly violated, sometimes violently, by the Miami police, who
systematically repressed our Constitutional right to free assembly with
massive force, riot gear and armaments," said Leo W. Gerard, USWA
international president, in a letter to Congressional leaders.
"It is condemnable enough that a massive police state was created to
prevent American citizens from directly petitioning FTAA negotiators for
redress of their grievances," Gerard said in the letter.
"It is doubly condemnable," he added, "that $9 million of federal funds
designated for the reconstruction of Iraq were used toward this
despicable purpose. How can we hope to build democracy in Iraq while
using massive force to dismantle it here at home?"
Citing "countless instances of humiliating repression in which the Miami
police force disgraced itself," Gerard said that Miami police chief John
Timoney should be fired, all charges against peaceful demonstrators
should be dropped, and a Congressional investigation into the Miami
police department's systematic repression should immediately be
launched.
"To do less would be to endorse homeland repression in the guise of
homeland security," Gerard's letter concluded.
The full text of the letter is available on the USWA website:
www.uswa.org
Contacts
USWA
Marco Trbovich, 412-562-2442
5:50:10 PM
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