Version imprimableAlain Pojolat discharged!
The news was received with great joy by all those who were mobilized recently against the criminalization of the Palestinian solidarity movement by the Holland-Valls government.
Alain Pojolat was summoned for having deposited at the prefecture (Parisian police authority) last July requests for permission to demonstrate. He did this on behalf of a number of organizations. These demonstrations, in solidarity with the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip suffering savage attacks by the Israeli army, were banned.
These bans were unacceptable. The government, because it supports Israeli government policy, tried to discredit the Palestine solidarity movement, using the provocations of the far right Zionists as an excuse. It tried to forbid the widely-expressed mass solidarity with Gaza this summer by banning the demonstrations. By charging Alain Pojolat it sought to intimidate the whole of the Palestine solidarity movement.
All these attempts failed. In spite of bans, in spite of the police, demonstrators came in their thousands to denounce the Israeli aggression in the street. And it was in their thousands that a wide range of personalities of the associative, trade-union, artistic and political sectors signed the petition , denouncing the charges against Alain Pojolat
The prosecutor asked for a 2-month suspended sentence and a fine of 1500 euros. The scope of the mobilization decided things differently. This great political victory is an encouragement not to give up for all those fighting for freedom of expression.
Solidarity must continue because all the charges against those who took part in the demonstrations of this summer, or who are involved in the boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, must be dropped. For the same reason the Alliot-Marie circular, amended by Mercier and Taubira, which criminalizes the boycott, must be withdrawn. [1]
Montreuil
22 October 2014
The prosecution appeals against the acquittal of Alain Pojolat
The regime isn’t giving up. Shortly after the decision of the Paris high court (Tribunal de Grande Instance) to discharge our comrade Alain Pojolat, the Parquet (prosectuion), a direct emanation of the Ministry of Justice of Madame Taubira, appealed against this decision.
This scandalous decision, when the file is empty, simply confirms the attitude of the government is. It cannot stand the disavowal of its policy towards the Palestine solidarity movement, the judgment on the ban on demonstrating that it tried to impose in July-August 2014. It is not giving up and neither will we. Solidarity and mobilization will develop. And at the end of the day the result will be the same and a bigger snub.
Montreuil
23 October 2014
