Charges dismissed against five GOP convention protesters
AP 31oct00

PHILADELPHIA -- Charges against five protesters arrested during the Republican National Convention were dismissed by a judge, who said they were singled out by police because of their unpopular views.

The protesters were arrested at a July 31 demonstration opposing the Army's School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga.

Defense lawyers had noted that authorities did not force activists to move at two similar traffic-blocking rallies during the convention, including one led by police advocacy groups urging the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who was convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer.

``This court finds that the only meaningful difference between defendants and the other two groups is that their views were not received as favorably by Philadelphia citizens as the other two groups,'' Municipal Court Judge James M.DeLeon wrote in his opinion Monday.

Nine people were arrested during the School of the Americas protest, after the participants lay in the street in front of City Hall and refused to move. Critics have blamed the school, which trains Latin Americans in combat techniques, for human rights abuses in Central American countries.

Five people were affected by Monday's ruling; the other four have accepted plea agreements in which they were ordered to pay a fine and complete six months probation.