Our Neighbors Acquitted and Casinos Remain on Trial!
Fourteen Philadelphia residents were acquitted today of charges against them for protesting the construction of the sugar house casino on Delaware River.
Our neighbors were charged with disorderly conduct, refusal to disburse, and conspiracy. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania claimed the protests from September 29th, 2009 attempted to disrupt construction at Sugar House and by doing so put the public in harms way.
The defense however proved otherwise, and that the intent of the protests were a matter of free speech, and meant to dramatize the community opposition against locating casinos in Philadelphia.
Expect more updates soon with first hand reflections from the residents involved in the protest.
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Hurray! Nice work!
Here's more from Casino-Free Philly:
Earlier today, you and your entire city got some good news. Fourteen
of its citizens, arrested in September for blocking the entrance to the
SugarHouse construction site, were acquitted of all charges. Watch the video from Fox 29.
The judge dismissed the case. As a result, all Philadelphians
should feel empowered to work for a more transparent, democratic and
sustainable future, even when political forces are stacked against them.
We know the last year has been hard.
Yet today's win demonstrates once again that Philadelphia has
only been casino-free for five years -- and remains so to this day --
because of your hard work and dedication.
We've seen many victories over the past year: increasingly perilous
financial situations for both SugarHouse and Foxwoods, the formation of
a city-wide coalition fighting predatory gambling and another year
without slots in our neighborhoods.
This past year has been challenging -- as we've attempted to
accomplish so much, in the face of such odds and political opposition,
while remaining true to our mission and history as a community-centered
organization.
We can do even more with your continued support. Foxwoods can be
kicked out of Philadelphia entirely. Investments in SugarHouse can be
slowed and cower from our growing community power, causing the slots
parlor to go bankrupt if it does open. And we can push for a city and
state budget based on commitments to fund essential services rather
than exploit people through predatory gambling.
But we simply can't do it without some measure of financial support.
More than 85% of our funding comes from individual donations, and we
steadfastly refuse to accept donations from other casinos or their
backers.
Donate to Casino-Free Philadelphia, and let's make this the first of many victories in 2010!
--Lily, Ivan, Francesca, Dan and the rest of Casino-Free Philadelphia
P.S. We're still pulling together more images and video from today's events, but check our website and our Facebook page for live updates and other multimedia collected throughout this amazing day.