Please join the "Polar Bear 7" this Friday, March 7, 2 PM in Washington DC Superior Court, Room C-301, 500 Indiana Avenue, NW.

On October 22, 2007, during the "No War, No Warming" demonstration in Washington DC, seven people, including myself, were snatched and arrested by the US Capitol Police. None of us had participated in civil disobedience or broken any law.

According to police documents, seven people "dressed as polar bears," (though I was dressed in a business suit and another defendant, a journalist, was dressed in casual clothes) were arrested for unlawful assembly. While only five of us eventually went to trial, Judge Raphael Diaz referred to us as the "Polar Bear 7" (and alternatively, as "teddy bears").

Following a six day trial in February, Judge Diaz found the "Polar Bear 7" innocent of unlawful assembly, but guilty of "a lesser included" charge, failure to obey a police order.

Tomorrow, Friday, March 7 at 2 PM, the "Polar Bear 7" will return to court for reconsideration and/or sentencing. Attorney Ann Wilcox, along with co-defendants pro se, Adam Eidinger and Robert Levitt, will argue for the "Polar Bear 7."

In my view, the judge's failure to acquit the "Polar Bear 7" sends a chilling message to the "No War, No Warming" movement. While there was no finding of any basis for our arrest, and the judge discredited the prosecutorial theory of "transferred intent," he left open the question of selective arrest and gave the police license to arrest people for disobeying an order, even if they broke no law. -- "Zool"