Time’s Up needs your help!
Posted April 28th, 2005 by eliot
Some of the Time’s Up organizers who were sued by the city have posted a fundraising appeal on NYC Indymedia:
As you may have heard, four TIME’S UP! volunteers — and TIME’S UP! itself — are being sued by the City of New York. Why are the City of New York and its Parks Department suing a group of environmentalists? For riding bikes, talking about riding bikes to the press, and encouraging other people to use this sustainable, environmentally-sound form of transportation.
Despite police threats, we keep riding every single month. And the police keep arresting. At every Critical Mass since the RNC — except for December — the police have arrested bike riders. In March alone, 37 people were arrested simply for riding bikes in a group…
[I]n March, the City of New York, the NYPD, and the Parks Department took the next step. Now they’re suing us. They have requested an injunction, which, if granted, would make it illegal for us to talk about or participate in the Critical Mass bike ride. In fact, it would also make it illegal for YOU to talk about or participate in Critical Mass.
This suit is an obvious limitation of our First Amendment rights. We’ve amassed an incredible legal team, including renowned civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, to defend us and prove that we’re right and that this time the city has gone too far. But our defense costs money. Although our attorneys will defend us pro bono, we must raise a significant amount of money to pay for legal expenses. The bottom line: we have until May 5 to raise $30,000.
As stillweride over at Bikeblog wrote a few days back:
If you are at all troubled by this growing attack on free speech and civil liberties…if you fear NYC will be a giant mall within 2 years…it is time to take action…. It is all related. We are losing our rights daily. Are we just going to elect Mayor Bloomberg again for 4 more years of development and his silence on attacks of our constitutional rights?
Time’s Up and their legal team have been doing amazing work since the RNC to protect all of our rights to free assembly. You can give back at their legal newswire. Come out to the Speak Out and the ride if you can, and check out our new gallery of Critical Mass art, and help spread the word.
