From: "Chris Doran" <chrisrdoran@hotmail.com>

Dear friends, thank all of you for your tremendous support and concern for my well being over this last week.  Both Sarah and I are okay- tired, a little shaken, but also exhilarated and so inspired by what we have been a part of.

Yesterday I was released after four very full on days in jail.  Tuesday, the first day of the WTO Ministerial, I was beaten, pepper sprayed directly into my face and eyes while being held down by cops, beaten with a baton, and received extensive pain holds.  Later in the day I was tear gassed, shot at with concussion grenades and rubber bullets.

Wed AM the city of Seattle declared martial law and outlawed protesting downtown.  I was arrested along with at least 200 others for peacefully siting and chanting in a public park.  I sat on a bus in custody outside the police processing centre for 14 hours without food or water or access to a toilet, along with approx 60 other arrestees, because we refused to leave the bus until we saw our lawyer.

Our lawyers were standing right outside the bus and we were still denied access.  After 14 hours we were driven away to another spot to be taken off the bus.  Our lawyers and the media were threatened with arrest if they followed.  We were then drug off the bus, some of us by our hair, most with intense pain holds, and several people were pepper spayed to the point of serious injury.  All of us were practising non violent civil disobedience and no one physically resisted.  Nearly all of the over 500 arrested in total refused to give their names and address, ensuring we would be in for awhile and that the cops would not have the capacity to arrest anyone else.  People were beaten and pepper spayed in jail.  Many people were arrested, held for four days, and released, having never been charged or gone before an arraignment.

Soon after the first arrests, hundreds and then thousands of people gathered outside the King County Jail downtown, in direct violation of the no protest zone, demanding our (arrestees) demands be met.  Our demands were that everyone have their charges dropped and be released immediately, among other things.  Nearly everyone was released on their own recognizance eventually, and we now have 500 plus people going to court, requesting full jury trials, requesting speedy trials (within 90 days), and requesting court appointed lawyers.  Not to mention the innumerable civil lawsuits being prepared (this is America, after all).  The city of Seattle will not be able to cope, and hopefully they and every other city in America will think twice before they suspend the US Constitution, declare martial law, and turn the police force into a legalized para military gang accountable to no one.

The WTO was not able to meet on Tuesday, and by the end of business Friday African nations refused to sign anything, saying they were inspired by us. There is no new round, no plan for them to meet again, and the entire WTO is in serious disarray.  Just as importantly, it is clear to the world that dissent is alive and well in America, and Clinton and crew cannot say to other countries that he has the full support of the American people in globalizing the planet.

We won.

Love to everyone, Chris

Chris Doran