Mentre i ciclisti che hanno dimostrato a NY sono stati rilasciati (alcuni
dopo piu di 30 ore di detenzione) 354 bici sono ancora sotto sequestro.
Sotto un articolo del NY Times.
ciao maria teresa
From: "Naomi Renek" <naomirenek@???>
Subject: Bike News from New York
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 09:59:34 -0400
Hi everyone,
This issue has gotten relatively little coverage, but here's a good article
in the NY Times. The past few weeks have been really rough on people who
lost their bikes. Time's UP! has done an amazing job at helping these
people out by making connections in the legal community. I think ultimately
the incident will activate the cyclist community in NY -- it's happening
already!
Keep pedaling!
Naom
===================
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/nyregion/18bike.html
Police Allow the Return of Bicycles From Rallies
By COLIN MOYNIHAN
New York Times | 18-Sep-2004
More than 300 bicyclists were arrested during the demonstrations
against the Republican National Convention. While the riders
were released within days, many of their bikes have been locked
up for three weeks.
Yesterday, the Manhattan district attorney's office agreed to
let protesters retrieve them from the property clerk in
Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The deal was worked out by Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer
representing the bicyclists. "I'm pleased the D.A.'s office has
arranged to have the bikes released," he said. "To have kept the
bikes would've been punitive and legally unnecessary."
The matter of the seized bicycles has been a little-noticed
footnote to the ongoing legal disputes over mass arrests during
the demonstrations, with complaints that innocent people were
swept up in them and many were detained for long periods in
violation of court orders.
The police said yesterday that 354 bicycles were seized during
convention protests and that they had been held as evidence
pending the disposition of cases. Mr. Siegel said that he and
the prosecutors had agreed that instead of holding onto the
bicycles until trials, which could be at the end of this year
or the beginning of 2005, the bicycles would be photographed
and released.
Barbara Thompson, a spokeswoman for the office of the district
attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau, said that some bicycles were
returned yesterday under the new agreement.
"After review, we decided that photographs would suffice and the
bicycles could be returned," she said.
To retrieve a bicycle, the owner must present the property
voucher, given at the time of arrest, at the district attorney's
office and obtain a release form to show to the property clerk
in Brooklyn. Bicycles played a significant role during the
Republicans' visit. On Aug. 27, the Friday before the
convention, about 5,000 bicyclists shouting "No more Bush!"
hurtled past Madison Square Garden. Later that night, more than
250 of them were arrested after a protest ride that ended in
the East Village. Many of the arrests were made outside St.
Mark's-in-the-Bowery Church on Second Avenue, and most were
on charges of disorderly conduct or obstructing traffic. Many
bicyclists said they were arrested even though they had broken
no traffic laws.
For those who rely on bicycles for transportation, being
deprived of them has been a hardship. Randall Steketee, 26, a
paralegal for a law firm in the financial district, said he was
riding home to the East Village from work that Friday when he
found himself near a group of bicyclists at the end of the
protest. Mr. Steketee said that he was mistakenly arrested on
Second Avenue, and that the police seized his brand-new
Cannondale hybrid.
"I ride my bike to work every day, and I use it to get around
town" he said. "Now every time I want to go somewhere, my
commute is almost doubled."
Shortly after the convention, Time's Up!, an environmental
advocacy group that promotes the use of bicycles and that had
participated in the protest, began holding meetings in an East
Houston Street storefront to discuss the seizures. Several
bicycles that were seized belonged to the group and had been
lent to people during the convention.
Some bicyclists said they thought that the original decision to
hold onto the bikes had penalized those who insisted on going to
trial. But Ms. Thompson said that a handful of bicycles had been
returned to people who had been arraigned and were waiting for a
trial.
Other bicyclists said that their bicycles had been taken by the
police while legally locked up on the sidewalk. Police officials
said they had no indication that any locks were cut.
"Our goal is for this not to happen again," said Bill DiPaola,
the executive director of Time's Up!
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