>>> please forward widely >>>
NY ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
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GET UPDATES ON THE LAWSUIT + MORE AT OUR MEETING TONIGHT
Wednesday, August 18 at 6:30PM
Washington Square Methodist Church
135 W. 4th St., between 6th Ave. and Washington Square Park
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Rallying in Central Park is a right, not a privilege! United for Peace
and Justice filed a lawsuit today in New York State Supreme Court over
New York City's denial of the use of Central Park for a rally on August
29, after our legal, permitted march past Madison Square Garden. We are
seeking a court order to allow the rally to proceed.

The lawsuit – UFPJ vs. New York City Mayor Bloomberg, Parks
Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and the City of New
York – asserts that Central Park has traditionally served as a forum
for free expression, and that by denying us its use, New York City is
violating our Constitutional rights to free assembly. To learn more about
the lawsuit and get updates on other aspects of the organizing for
August 29, please come to our final citywide mobilizing meeting at 6:30PM
tonight, August 18, at Washington Square Methodist Church, 135 West 4th
Street.

The filing of this lawsuit means that we probably will not know the
final destination for our march until the very last minute. (Our assembly
time and location remain unchanged: Gather at 10:00AM at Seventh Avenue
and 14th Street, for a march beginning at noon.)

We’ve faced this situation before: It was just days before our massive
February 15, 2003 antiwar protest that we were able to announce the
details for our event. Then, too, Mayor Bloomberg hoped that the
uncertainty would keep people away, but he failed miserably: Hundreds of
thousands of you showed up for one of the largest protests in New York City’s
history.

The best way for us to counter the City’s efforts to stifle our protest
is to do everything we can in these next ten days to ensure the
largest, broadest possible turnout on August 29, when we will march past the
site of the Republican Convention to call for an end to the divisive and
destructive policies of the Bush Administration.

Make sure all your family members, friends, and coworkers know that our
legal, permitted march is going forward, no matter what happens in
court.

Make sure they know that – whatever the tabloids and the TV news might
say – we are committed to a peaceful protest, one that kids, seniors,
immigrants, and people with disabilities can attend, and that we will
march in a spirit of nonviolence.

Make sure they tell their friends about the protest, and that they join
us at 10:00AM on Sunday, August at Seventh Avenue and 14th Street, to
send a message so loud it cannot be ignored: We’re sick of the lies,
sick of the greed, sickened by the war and the hate, and we want a change.

In solidarity,
United for Peace and Justice