BY SHANE BENTLEY
Jack Heyman, business agent for San Francisco's Local 10 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), is one of 25 people charged with numerous offences following a brutal attack by Californian police on a peaceful anti-war protest in Oakland on April 7.
The demonstrators were protesting against American President Lines (APL), which ships military goods to US forces in Iraq, and Stevedoring Services of America Marine (SSA), which was handed a US government contract to run the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
Police in riot gear took aim at the 750 protesters and nearby longshore workers with 2.5-centimetre diametre wooden dowels, which left huge welts on their victims. Numerous demonstrators and nine wharfies were hit, with five ILWU members needing hospital treatment.
Most were shot in the back by these potentially lethal wooden projectiles as they fled. Rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas were also used. Cops opened fire almost immediately after an order to disperse, which the protesters were attempting to obey when they were attacked.
Heyman was conferring with the protesters and ILWU members when the cops opened fire, targeting the ILWU members because they had expressed sympathy with the protesters, although they were not part of the demonstration. Heyman was dragged from his car, thrown to the pavement and arrested.
ILWU Local 10, along with protesters and labour rights organisations, in June sued the City of Oakland for violating their civil rights by using excessive force. The City of Oakland decided to press on with the bogus charges against Heyman and the demonstrators immediately after the announcement of the lawsuit.
The Committee to Defend ILWU Local 10 Business Agent Jack Heyman is asking supporters to:
1) Send faxes to Oakland mayor Jerry Brown (+1 510 238 4731) and Alameda County district attorney Thomas Orloff (+1 510 208 3965) to demand that the charges against Heyman and the demonstrators be dropped;
2) Send a message of solidarity to ILWU Local 10 at fax +1 415 441 0610 or email <mperez@bayarea.net>; and/or
3) Send a donation to the Committee to Defend ILWU Local 10 Business Agent Jack Heyman, c/o Local 10, 400 North Point Street, San Francisco, CA 94130, USA.
Visit <http://www.defendilwuba.com> for more information.
[Shane Bentley is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia and the Socialist Alliance.]
From Green Left Weekly, September 24, 2003.
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