Beltway Area Indymedia

Audio:5 min

During afternoon rush hour on August 23, immigrants and supporters proteested at the very gates of ICE,responding to raids at the Smithfield plant, in DC-and to the arrest of Sanctuary movement activist Elvira Arellana in LA.

Elvira's arrest and near-instant deportatin were meant to "send a message" to immigrants who dare to resist. The Smithfield raid was no doubt meant to send a similar message to those who dare to stand up to slave labor and abusive workplace conditions.

Ricardo of Mexicanos Sins Fronteras spoke at the Fals Church event welcoming the Immigrant Solidarity Caravan. In a portion of his speech he called for the planned August 27-Sep 3 boycott of non-immigrant owned businesses in Prince William County. No Potomac Mills, No 7-11, no Wal-Mart-NADA!

Hundreds gathered in a field behind St Anthony's Catholic Church in Falls Church, VA, welcoming the Immigrant Solidarity Caravan as it arrived from Manassas.

This was one of several emergency actions called to oppose Prince William County's and other jurisdiction's fascist crackdown on immigrants.

The Immigrant Solidarity Caravan that originated in Prince William County stopped over at Lamont Park in Mount Pleasant on Saturday, August 18th. Despite the Dept. of Parks and Recreation's choice to refuse the caravan a permit, the event went off with none of the feared problems.
The cops and ICE stayed away, and even the MinuteKlan didn't deliver on threats to disrupt the caravan_at least not in DC where Froatz did 6 weeks in jail.

was wondering why it was so difficult to ride a bike in this hot and nasty weather. Well, satellite photos of the East Coast show a nasty cloud of smoke and haze over a large part of the East Coast.

Ozone alone read 121 yesterday for DC, yet the papers spoke only of Code Orange level alerts. There is fine particulates(smoke) and all thiat shit from coal-burning power plants upwind as well to deal with.

Today, Tuesday, July 30th, the immigrant community of Prince William County announced their response to the racist, anti-immigrant law passed by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors on July 10, 2007. Determined to force the Board of Supervisor's to rescind the xenophobic, unconstitutional legislation, which would deny county services to those who could not prove their legal status, and force county police to check the immigration status of anyone detained, representatives from the immigrant community today announced their plan to move forward Today's announcement came after a series of community meetings, drawing more than 3,500 people, in which the voices of the immigrant community were heard.

On July 13, dozens of angry district residents filled the ANC 2A meeting to express outrage at the recent abuse of emergency legislation at the hands of council member Jack Evans. In a sweetheart deal at the 11th hour, Evans gave away the West End Library, Fire Station and Police Station (some residents could care less about the police...but care about the land it stands on) to developer Eastbanc, also known as the "King of Georgetown."

Outraged residents came to the hearing to put Evans in his place. As Evans tried to spew his lies, the people were on hand to correct him.

Call to Action: Dignity, Autonomy, and Solidarity over Greed and Corporate Power!

Disrupt the IMF and the World Bank meetings: Washington DC, October 19-21, 2007
The misery forced on millions by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank is unacceptable and renders them illegitimate.

Don't say protest doesn't work-just the threat of another resident-organized Franklin Shelter protest was enough to get the DC government to begin installing air conditioning in the building over the weekend of July 21-22.
Audio: 3 min 53 seconds, 18 sec, 1 min 25 sec

The showdown between racist bigots and the immigrant community boiled over on Saturday, July 21 at 8 AM outside the day labor center near Gaithersburg.

The MinuteKlan and National Alliance(Nazis) only had maybe 15 people at their peak-and at one point only 10 while counterprotesters had over 25, outnumbering them 2 1/2 to one at one point.

Concerning the Racist-Anti-Immigrant Tide Sweeping the Empire
Author

We want to make this points first so we may finally be understood by white people and culture. This not intended for white people who are truly in solidarity with us, because there are many and we recognize and welcome that.