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| Statehood Greens Urge Public Support for Protester Arrested at Stadium Rally. |
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D.C. Statehood Green Party Monday, November 29, 2004 Contact: STATEHOOD GREENS URGE PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR PROTESTER ARRESTED AT STADIUM RALLY D.C. Statehood Green Party member Debby Hanrahan was arrested without warning on Nov. 22, comparable to the Sept. 2002 mass arrest in Pershing Park for which DC police were reprimanded; a few Statehood Greens and a member of the No D.C. Taxes for Baseball Coalition were protesting the plan for a publicly financed baseball stadium. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The D.C. Statehood Green Party is urging public support for party member Debby Hanrahan, who faces criminal charges for displaying a dissenting poster at a November 22 rally at Union Station for a proposed publicly-funded baseball stadium. Ms. Hanrahan was arrested shortly after entering Union Station to attend a public press conference and rally to welcome the former Montreal Expos team to the District of Columbia and to announce the new team's nickname, the Nationals. "This was an event that was open to public participation, in Union Station, which is public property," said David Best, a member of the Statehood Green Party's steering committee. "Debby didn't engage in any disruptive behavior -- she just wanted the dissenting opinion expressed by her sign to be seen. The intent of the arrest was an obvious attempt to suppress an opposing point of view, and an insult to the First Amendment." Recounting the incident, Debby Hanrahan said, "As I entered the station, there was no sign stating that there is a prohibition inside the station on the carrying of signs expressing an opinion on a political or public policy issue. As far as I was concerned, I was entering a public building [owned by the U.S. Department of Transportation] to attend a public meeting to which all members of the public were invited -- a public meeting to be attended by the mayor, members of the D.C. City Council, members of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, and other elected and appointed city officials. I was attending this public meeting to hold up my sign objecting to the $614 million stadium public financing plan put forward by Mayor Williams and supported by several members of the City Council." Ms. Hanrahan, standing alone amidst a crowd of the new Washington team's supporters, had been at the rally in Union Station's grand hall for no more than a few minutes when an AMTRAK police officer pulled her outside the station. When she told officers that she was in a public building attending a public meeting and had done nothing wrong, she was told that Union Station is "not a public building", because it is managed by a private management company. After Ms. Hanrahan refused to show identification, the officers arrested her. AMTRAK police officers issued no warning or order to cease displaying the sign to Ms. Hanrahan before her removal from Union Station and arrest. (Police generally are required to issue three warnings to protesters before making an arrest.) The lack of warning makes Ms. Hanrahan's arrest comparable to the mass arrest without warning of demonstrators and bystanders by D.C. Metropolitan Police in Pershing Park on September 27, 2002. The police were later reprimanded by D.C. Council for violating the detainees' rights <http://www.dcwatch.com/police/040311.htm>. The AMTRAK officers didn't tell Ms. Hanrahan the specific charge for which she was arrested until she was taken to the AMTRAK police offices, where she "heard officers conferring about what to charge me with." AMTRAK officers charged her with misdemeanor unlawful entry and then transferred her to D.C. Metropolitan Police. Ms. Hanrahan was released by a magistrate on personal recognizance after 28 hours in custody. Her next court appearance on the charge will be December 17 in D.C. Superior Court. A jury trial will be scheduled later. Ms. Hanrahan was given the option of disposing of the charge by paying a fine, which would have been an admission of guilt and an acknowledgment that displaying a sign at a public meeting in a public building is illegal. Instead, she will defend herself before a jury. Statehood Greens note that, regardless of its day-to-day management by a private company, Union Station is public property that serves a public accommodations function as a transportation hub for thousands of riders daily on Metro, MARC trains, and federally-subsidized AMTRAK, whose headquarters is at Union Station. AMTRAK's chairman and board members are appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate; representatives of the mayor and AMTRAK serve on the governing board of the quasi-public Union Station Redevelopment Corp., which leases Union Station from the federal government. Before Ms. Hanrahan's arrival at the rally, two other Statehood Green Party members, Adam Eidinger and T.E. Smith, had already been removed from the rally for protesting the financial plan for the stadium, but were not arrested. "A poll published by The Washington Post in October showed that 69% of D.C. residents oppose the mayor's plan, but Major League Baseball, Mayor Williams and his supporters on the Council and the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission still don't want the public to see that there's widespread citizens' opposition to the use of taxpayers' money for the proposed stadium," said Michele Tingling-Clemmons, Statehood Green Party steering committee member and 2004 candidate for D.C. Council (Ward 7). The D.C. Statehood Green Party has taken a public
stand in opposition to the stadium financing plan: Several party members testified at a packed Council hearing on the plan on October 28. Ms. Hanrahan is seeking witnesses to her removal and arrest, as well as video footage from any camera operators who were in the vicinity and recorded the incident. MORE INFORMATION: --- |
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