On September 15th, a group of at least 30 activists showed up in front of Audie Leventhal's (alcoholic, domestic abuser, slumlord, animal torturer) gated driveway. Although he failed to grace us with his presence this time, the younger generation of the neighborhood welcomed the activists and were interested to know about why they should be worried to live in the area. They knew the general reason why we were there, but were stunned to hear the horror stories of their villainous neighbor. Although it isn't a busy street, we undoubtedly were heard by all of Audie's neighbors and managed to pass out a few leaflets as well.
We chanted non-stop for 20 minutes. Shortly after, police cars started to arrive, and by the end of the demo, there were 16 total police cars lining the street. They told us to leave, but some activists were not so easily persuaded to leave a perfectly legal political protest. When one activist, filming the demonstration, attempted to defend our legal right to be there and question what law we were violating, the police officer told him he must move away and "take [his] camera with you" while the officer questioned other activists. The officer was trying to affirm his power, and refusing to obey such a ridiculous order landed the activist in handcuffs. Another activist, also using his legal right to film the arrest, was arrested as well. The police had also picked one of the youngest, female activists to randomly arrest. This activist was separated from the group and interrogated by the gestapo of the Salt Lake County police. When she asserted her Miranda right to remain silent - they threatened they would add another charge if she did not answer her questions. No wonder they wanted the cameras away while they questioned us.
Each of these three activists is now being charged with the same generic and vague misdemeanors that most political activists are used to seeing: disorderly conduct, breach of peace, disturbing the peace, failure to comply with a lawful order, and failure to disperse. Stay tuned to our website for ways you can help support these three activists.
We remain unintimidated Audie, and with a growing number of comrades we WILL be back.
