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DEMOCRACY NOW! SPECIAL ALERT

[The following is a message written by Democracy Now! producer Ana Nogueira who was arrested Friday evening while covering the FTAA protests in Miami. We thank the listeners and viewers who responded to our action alert last night and called officials demanding her release. She was released early Saturday morning. For full coverage on the FTAA protests tune into Democracy Now!]

Early this morning I was sitting in a jail cell in Miami, cold, hungry and trying to ignore the cockroaches crawling on the floor of the cell. My clothes had been taken away from me and thrown out because they reeked of pepper spray.

I was arrested because I had not embedded myself with the Police Department before doing my job of covering the protests for the nationally syndicated public radio and tv program Democracy Now! Instead, I was swept up late Friday afternoon with about 70 others as we tried to obey an order to disperse from an “unlawful” jail solidarity rally.

Mine is not an isolated case. Four other independent reporters were arrested with me and three of them remain in jail: Jeanette Lee and Michael Medow, both of Michigan Independent Media Center, as well as an IMC reporter who goes by the name of Winter. Todd Price, a Madison, WI, journalist who was formerly the executive director of community television station WYOU, was arrested with me but has been released.

In addition, Justin Lipson of the NYC IMC Video Team was arrested on Thursday and is being held on a $10,000 bond. Police smashed his camera and have charged him with two felonies. Miami New Times staff writer Celeste Fraser Delgado was also arrested on Thursday while trying to interview protesters. Her purse and press credentials were left at the scene of her arrest.

I am out now thanks entirely to the pressure that Democracy Now! supporters and staff put on the jail to release me. If not for all the emails and phone calls the police received demanding my immediate release, I would still be there. However, I am still facing charges and will most likely have to return to Miami to appear in court.

I thank everyone who stood up for the right of independent media today and contacted the jail urging them to release me. But there is more we need to do. Our colleagues in Miami are receiving disturbing reports of ongoing abuse of prisoners inside the jail, including severe beatings, being held in a cold room with no toilet, getting cold-showered every two hours. People of color and transgender people feel that they were specifically targeted. We must all act now to demand that the torture stop and all charges against the journalists be dropped.

Please, tell everyone you possibly can to call the numbers below to demand the release of Jeanette Lee, Michael Medow, Winter, and Justin Lipson, the dropping of all charges against journalists, and the fair treatment of all prisoners.

– Ana Nogueira, Democracy Now! producer

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ACTION:

Call/Email These Authorities:

Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center (TGK)
305-470-7636 or 305-470-7600 (Press 2 for TGK, then 7 for booking or 9 forshift commander)

The Joint Task Force on Law Enforcement
Major Role (cell): 305-216-6594

FTAA Miami Unified Command Joint Information Center
Phone: 305-579-6420

Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas
mayor@miamidade.gov

City of Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz
Telephone: 305-250-5300
E-mail: mannydiaz@ci.miami.fl.us
Janet Lopez, Director Office of Communications
Phone: 305-416-1036
Pager:305-312-2981