Journalist Says She WIll Appeal G-20 Charges
Melissa Hill Does Not Plan To Pay Fines Stemming From Protests
Melissa Hill says she will appeal charges that police made against her during protests at the G-20 summit meeting in Pittsburgh in September.
Hill is affiliated with a branch of the Independent Media Center movement. This network of websites is made up of volunteers and its members often cover protest movements in a manner sympathetic to the protesters.
The movement was started in 1999 at the Seattle protests of a gathering of the International Monetary Fund. Since then, people affiliated with this movement have covered the protests for the sites, and have given people involved with the protests an opportunity to post their own accounts.
Hill Goes Back To Pittsburgh To Face Charges
Hill posted to the Twin Cities Independent Media Center website that she has recently had to travel back to Pittsburgh to face charges. In her own words, on the site:
“Even after being subjected to the chemical weapons, arrested, and having my camera destroyed and footage stolen at the conclusion of September's G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, I still had two charges that I needed to fight. I was charged with failure to disperse and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors. So I journeyed back to Pittsburgh in hopes of getting the charges completely dismissed.”
She was charged and faces $300 in fines and 90 days of jail time for each offense.
Hill says, on the site that she does not plan on paying the fine and will appeal her charges.
Other people at the protests say that the police did not behave properly and have enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union to investigate.
The ACLU Investigates Charges Of Police Misconduct
The American Civil Liberties Union has been collecting information on police conduct during the protest to see if any lawsuits are warranted.
The ACLU has collected some information about the protests and has placed some its findings on its website. From an observation made on September 24th:
“The City of Pittsburgh is prohibiting pedestrians from entering Schenley Park, the site of the G-20 meeting at Phipps Conservatory tonight. As a result, Three Rivers Climate Convergence, which has a permit to use the Schenley Meadows area of the park, cannot get access to its permitted area. The parking lot adjacent to the Convention Center that Pittsburgh set up as a ‘free-speech zone’ for protestors was closed to public access this morning. A local reporter and ACLU legal observers were turned away when they tried to enter the parking lot. Shortly thereafter, the entrance to the lot was opened to public access.”
The ACLU is specifically gathering testimony concerning arrests the police made on September 25.
Police At G-20 Summit
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