Eco-activists arrested for protesting near bank chief’s home
Three activists with the Rainforest Action Network were arrested and fined earlier this month after posting signs on telephone poles and trees near the home of J.P. Morgan Chase CEO William Harrison. Designed to look like Old West “wanted” posters, the fliers read “Wanted — William ‘Billy the Kid’ Harrison” and urged his neighbors to “ask him to do the right thing” by ending “investments of mass destruction and adopt[ing] environmental standards today.” The fliers were meant to draw attention to the company’s alleged financing of environmentally damaging projects like mining and logging. Within half an hour of posting them, the activists were charged with disturbing the peace and the fliers were removed. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut is looking into the arrests to determine if they violated free speech rights. “It definitely raises questions, because it appears to be a content-based arrest and that is constitutionally very problematic,” said Annette Lamoreaux, an ACLU attorney.
