From the Revolution Club Chicago:
Case Against Revolution Club Members in Chicago Dismissed!
June 5, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
On Friday, June 2, a judge dismissed the case against two Revolution Club members in Chicago after the pigs did not come to court to pursue the charges. The two Revolution Club members were unjustly and illegally arrested by police at the Catholic Church's Good Friday Peace Walk in Englewood in April. The arrests, which were captured on video, were an illegal move by the pigs in an attempt to squash the message of revolution getting out to the people. The revolutionaries were arrested for simply attending the permitted Peace Walk and bringing signs challenging people that praying will not stop the youth killing each other, and that if people are going to pray, they should pray people get into the revolution and support them when they do.
After the arrests, a letter was circulated among Catholics and others, addressing the cardinal who had organized the walk in consultation with the pope. The letter posed, in part, “Did the Catholic Church or sponsors urge the authorities to drag away the revolutionaries on Good Friday? If not, then where is the outrage and the demand that the charges be dropped immediately? We challenge anyone to tell us what is wrong with what is said in the quote from Bob Avakian (BA) that we carried. Or our other signs challenging people.” And it included the BA quote, “Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed” (BAsics 4:1), as well as the full text of the other signs. In response to this letter, some people in the Catholic Church expressed support for the revolutionaries.
The Revolution Club also organized a protest in front of the police district responsible for the arrests, the notorious District 7 in Englewood, which is known for brutality, murder, and illegal suppression of the rights of the people. Supporters of the Revolution Club joined in the protest, including two ministers. The Revolution Club also protested in front of the courthouse the day of the hearing.
Whichever factors were weighed by the pig decision-makers, the fact that they did not pursue the charges in court at minimum shows they had no legal justification for these arrests. As we said at our protests: these arrests are attempts to target revolutionaries and stop the message of getting organized for real revolution from connecting with the people—but every time they come at us, we will use their attacks to build more support and strengthen the movement for revolution and fight all the way through.
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