1. PRESS ADVISORY
  2.  
  3. Contacts:
  4. Callie Maidhof (Phone)
  5. Cat Brooks (Phone)
  6.  
  7. Who: No Justice No BART and allied community groups
  8. What: Press Conference and announcement of our next BART demonstration
  9. Time: 4:30 PM, Monday September 5th
  10. Place: Civic Center Station, inside the station but outside the fare gates
  11.  
  12. Tomorrow, Monday September 5th, No Justice No BART will be hosting a
  13. press conference at 4:30 PM inside Civic Center BART station. Along
  14. with several other community groups, we are planning a mass action on
  15. Thursday, September 8th, at the Powell BART station, to demand Justice
  16. for Charles Hill, who was needlessly gunned down by BART police. We
  17. will demand that the violent, corrupt, and dangerous BART police force
  18. be disbanded.
  19.  
  20. The press conference will include the release of more detailed
  21. information about the upcoming action. This action will likely differ
  22. from previous No Justice No BART actions in the following ways:
  23.  
  24. * Our intention is to protest outside the Powell station fare gates,
  25. but we will not block emergency exits to and from the station.
  26. * IF our demonstration is successful, passengers will RIDE BART FOR
  27. FREE from Powell. We are calling this a SPARE THE FARE day.
  28. * IF BART Police and Administrators attack or interfere with our
  29. protest, we move into BART and onto the platforms, which may cause
  30. disruption for passengers.
  31. * We are making our strategy public so that people know what to expect
  32. and so that BART administrators know that THEY will be held
  33. accountable for all disruptions caused by the actions of their police.
  34.  
  35. Background:
  36.  
  37. No Justice No BART is a campaign of protests targeting the BART
  38. transit agency. We formed 3 years ago in the wake of the BART police
  39. murder of Oscar Grant and have been fighting since... for justice for
  40. Oscar Grant, Fred Collins, Charles Hill, and all victims of BART
  41. police violence and murder. Our core demand is that BART disband its
  42. murderous, inept, corrupt police department.
  43.  
  44. On July 11th, No Justice No BART called a protest on the Civic Center
  45. station platform to respond to the BART police killing of Charles
  46. Hill. BART to shut down all 4 downtown stations and the disruption to
  47. the evening commute impacted thousands of commuters. This
  48. demonstration prompted BART to release the video of the shooting weeks
  49. ahead of schedule.
  50.  
  51. On August 11th, fearing another protest by No Justice No BART, BART
  52. shut down its cellular service to prevent protesters from
  53. communicating with one another. This draconian and illegal decision
  54. prompted a strong and negative reaction from people around the world,
  55. from organizations such as the ACLU and EFF, and civil disobedience on
  56. the streets and the internet organized by the shadowy “Anonymous”.
  57. For the past 3 weeks, community groups have refrained from taking
  58. organizing roles in demonstrations against BART, and instead our
  59. members have watched or participated as individuals in the weekly
  60. (Monday) actions called by Anonymous. On Thursday we will step off
  61. the sidelines.
  62.  
  63. [No Justice No BART is not affiliated with Anonymous, and none of our
  64. actions have been been coordinated by Anonymous.]