Feb. 15 NY rally 49St. & 1stAve. No to ban on march!

["Fred Feldman" <ffeldman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Dear Friend of United for Peace & Justice:

Good news! We have secured an assembly point for the "World Says No to War"
protest on February 15. The New York City Police Department has offered a
permit for a noon rally on First Avenue stretching north from 49th Street,
which is within sight of the United Nations. This is an important victory,
and we are confident that February 15 will be a day of massive, peaceful,
powerful protest in New York City.

The downloadable leaflets on our website will soon reflect this information:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=710

The Police Department has, however, so far refused to approve a permit for a
march. We insist on our right to march, as well as to rally, to express our
opposition to this war. We expect to be successful in our vigorous political
and legal efforts to obtain a march permit. We will not be distracted from
our objective of mobilizing for February 15. Nor will we capitulate to the
NYPD's attempt to curtail our rights of expression and assembly: Military
aggression abroad is entangled with restriction of civil liberties here in
the United States, and we reject both.

As part of our campaign for our rights to expression and assembly, United
for Peace and Justice filed suit in Federal Court in Manhattan to require
the NYPD to issue a march permit. A hearing was held on Friday, February 7,
and the judge's decision may be announced on Monday, February 10.

What can you do?

1) KEEP MOBILIZING FOR FEB. 15: The NYPD wants to discourage people from
coming to this protest -- we need to redouble our efforts to make February
15 an enormous gathering for peace. Please contact Fran Geteles
asap(fgeteles@xxxxxxx or 212-663-8048) if you are organizing buses or
trains. Check out our website at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/feb15 --
we've added lots of new information.

2) SPREAD THE WORD: Forward this message widely, post the assembly location
on your website, tell everyone you know to gather at noon on Saturday,
February 15, at 49th Street and First Avenue.

3) KEEP UP THE PRESSURE: We need all of our supporters to make a huge ruckus
about the NYPD's attempt to keep us from marching on February 15. Some
suggestions:

>>Fax a statement from your organization to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg
insisting on our right to march on February 15. Fax#: (212) 788-2460

>>Ask sympathetic elected officials, community leaders, and/or celebrities
to contact Mayor Bloomberg and demand that the City issue a march permit.

>>Contact your local media, write letters to the editor, call in to radio
talk shows, get the word out about this outrageous denial of our
Constitutional rights

>>Keep making phone calls of protest to these officials:
*NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: 212-788-9600, 212-788-3010, 212-788-3040
*NYC Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly: 646-610-8526
*NYPD Chief of Department Joseph Esposito: 646-610-6710

>>Send an email to Mayor Bloomberg using this form:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html

If you're not already on our email list, you can receive future updates like
this one about the February 15 mobilization, including an announcement of
the judge's decision on Monday about our march permit lawsuit, by visiting
http://unitedforpeace.org/email.php

Thanks for your support -- we can still prevent this war, and together we
will win the right to march.

Sincerely,
The February 15 organizing staff of
United for Peace and Justice

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