On Saturday, hundreds of people marched through downtown Grand Rapids to call for an immediate end to the US occupation of Iraq. Unfortunately, the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) decided that rather than accommodate this expression of dissent, they would make arrests in order to deter the crowd from marching in the street. There were two arrests during the march.

ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS) is committed to supporting those individuals that were arrested as well as continuing to organize for an end to the occupation of Iraq. As part of this commitment, we raised nearly $300 at the end of the march to get the arrestees out of jail. By no later than 4:00pm on Saturday, both protestors had been released from jail.

In order to continue to support those who were arrested, we are asking for video or pictures of the arrests. If you have any, please send them to us. Additionally, if you witnessed the arrests, it would be helpful if you could send us statements of what you saw. Please be as accurate and detailed as possible, including descriptions of the actions of police and those who were arrested, as well as where people were standing–for example on the sidewalk or on the street.

In Solidarity,
ACTIVATE (Grand Rapids SDS)