the latest from julian:

FIJA DEMONSTRATION OF 11/09/09

I arrived at he U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan at 11:45 am on Monday, November 9, 2009. The weather was perfect: warm and sunny. I stood in the middle of the plaza in front of the courthouse.

I started to pass out the FIJA pamphlet entitled “A Primer for Prospective Jurors” along with my handout (see below). A freelance reporter form Free Talk Live was present. At 11:48, I was approached by two federal marshals, who identified themselves as Musumeci and Sullivan. They would not give first names and said that they had no badge numbers. They informed me that I had to leave. I demurred. They said that they would have to report me and left.

I passed out about 15 flyers, when three police from the Department of Homeland Security approached me at about 12:20 pm. The leader was my friend Officer Barnes from two weeks ago. After we exchanged the usual pleasantries, he placed me under arrest, and I fell to the ground. He confiscated my remaining five brochures and my JURY INFO sign. He left a receipt and a citation 41 CFR, Sub C Section 102 #74.415(c), the same as two weeks earlier.

During the exchange with the police, the Free Talk Live reporter videotaped the event and interviewed me until he was stopped and cited by the police under 41 CFR, Subsection C, §102–74.420 for photographing without a permit. They confiscated his film.

At about 12:30 pm, while I was still on the ground, Joel Kupferman, a lawyer and Executive Director of the New York Environmental & Justice Project appeared and observed. Then the police left at 12:35 pm. I stood up and the event was over.

We noticed that an NBC reporter was present, but we did not interact with him. Joel and I went to a Chinese soup shop and had hot and sour soup. I arrived home at about 3:15 pm.