Ft. Lauderdale Food Not Bombs Raided by Police (firsthand account)
by Jennifer Van Bergen on Monday, February 21, 2011 at 2:34pm
Brothers and sisters
For 4 and 1/2 years the young people at Food Not Bombs have been feeding the homeless in downtown Fort Lauderdale. In that time the city, police and the local businesses have been trying to shut them down, they want the homeless out of sight and mind in that more up-scale part of town. Recently the harassment against FNB has increased dramatically, it reach a very dangerous point last Thusday, below is a narrative in their words of what happened.
Note, there will be a solidarity action this Friday, more info coming soon.
Ray Del Papa
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In the recent five months, tensions between the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and Food Not Bombs activists have escalated. Within this time, The FLPD has not only prevented multiple groups from sharing in Stranahan Park, but has installed a police surveillance tower in the park amidst repeated verbal assault against Food Not Bombs activists.
On Thursday, February 17th, an FPL electricity inspection led to the power being turned off at the home of activists frequently the target of police harassment. The electricity bill had been paid prior to this. Several hours later, all tenants had left the house while a few guests remained. During this time, an unwarranted police raid took place under the premise of 'uninhabitable' living conditions. The house was deemed 'uninhabitable' due to the lack of electricity, which had been turned off that morning. House guests were pulled from the house and searched by over a dozen officers, who kicked in unlocked doors and, with a K-9 unit, searched the house with no specific intent. One female guest was frisked and inappropriately touched by a male officer.More troubling still, officers were questioning the political orientation of the house guests. They asked if the house was a 'militant training camp', and whether or not the guests were"terrorists" or affiliated with "black bloc". Before the FLPD left the house, they threatened to repeat raids weekly.
The Food Not Bombs activists in Fort Lauderdale are not involved in any of the activities suggested by the police. Rather, activities organized out of the house include free bike repair, FNB gatherings and sharing of food with the homeless, animal rights activities, candle making workshops, foreclosure & civil rights activism, etc. We,Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs, strongly condemn the intimidation tactics which include the police surveillance tower in Stranahan Park,unwarranted police raids, and the criminalization of community activism. Broward County officials have already targeted the poor and disenfranchised. Now the range has been expanded to include those who dare to help them. We call on South Florida activists to stand with us in solidarity as we struggle against the city's efforts to repress the homeless and community-based activism.
In solidarity,
Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs
For more information, send an email to WDirect08@aol.com or SWAMPZine@gmail.com.
UPDATE: Fort Lauderdale Police returned to the activists home on Saturday, February 19th at around 9:00PM. The two officers did not attempt a repeat of Thursday's raid, but rather briefly insulted and intimidated one of the tenants and their guests. The police entered the house, with permission from the tenant but then left shortly afterward.
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uterus police
http://blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/2011/02/21/georgia-legislator-wants-to-investigate-miscarriages-create-uterus-police/Corporate THC
http://www.naturalnews.com/031489_DEA_legalized_marijuana.htmlOur Military Using Psy-Ops on our own Senators:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/another-runaway-general-army-deploys-psy-ops-on-u-s-senators-20110223First Iranian warship thru Suez canal since 1979
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122244215758692.htmlObama on Unions
Short vid clip
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/storyInteresting, but this chick is programmed just like Fox News people are programmed. Just a little more slick. Randi Rhodes interviewing Ron Paul 20 minutes.
http://freakoutnation.com/2011/02/24/ron-paul-the-tea-party-is-now-corporately-owned/Wisconsin Shock Doctrine
http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2011/02/paul-krugman-shock-doctrine-usa.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+EconomistsView+(Economist's+View+(EconomistsView))About a week ago Castro was saying, watch, the U.S. will attack Libya because they have oil. Is this Iraq 2?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-125752062 new anti-choice bills threaten public safety:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/24/949245/-The-pro-life-bill-to-legalize-murder-spreads-to-Iowa-and-Nebraska?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+dailykos/index+(Daily+Kos)from:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/wisconsin-protests:
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President, Writers Guild of America, East; Former senior writer, Bill Moyers JournalMichael Winship, 02.25.2011
Instead of screaming about the advances public employees have made to preserve health care, job security and economic justice, angry voters should be asking who has been keeping them from obtaining the same.
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Nader on Wisconsin and Unions:
