May 20, 2013
Philly police bust libertarian activist Adam Kokesh during ‘smoke down’ pot rally
Libertarian activist and Iraq veteran Adam Kokesh was arrested Saturday at a “smoke down prohibition” marijuana rally in Philadelphia after police moved in on the crowd at 4:20 p.m. in an apparent show of force.
In Philadelphia, marijuana possession under 30 grams is punishable by a small fine and the offense is classified similarly to a parking ticket. Since decriminalization went through, activists have taken to staging open-smoking events at Independence National Historical Park, and police have mostly just ignored them.
Sunday’s event was different, however. As police milled ever-closer to the roughly 60 to 75 demonstrators present at the national park, a man with access to the public announcement system began counting down to 4:20, urging the crowd to “light that shit” in direct disobedience to signs police placed around the area insisting that nobody would be allowed to smoke marijuana. “Fuck the law, smoke it anyway!” Kokesh shouted into the microphone. “Bring it in! Hey, everybody show some love. Make it difficult for the police here.”
A total of five people were arrested during the event. Two of them — Kokesh and “Panic Hour” comedy writer N.A. Poe — remain in the Philadelphia jail pending a hearing set for later this week, according to supporters. It’s not clear what the official charges are, but the incident happened on federal land, meaning Kokesh and Poe could face charges of assaulting a federal officer, a crime that carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
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It didn’t take long for conspiracy host Alex Jones to claim that Kokesh was intentionally targeted by federal officers due to
his plans for a July 4 gun rally in Washington, D.C., which bans anyone except law enforcement officers from carrying a firearm in the city. His former group, Iraq Veterans Against the War, disowned Kokesh’s plan in a statement earlier in May, warning that the march may endanger participants.
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Full article here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/20/philly-police-bust-libertarian-activist-adam-kokesh-during-smoke-down-pot-rally/
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022872725
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