Contact: Chad Kister: www.chadkister.com; 740-753-3888; 740-707-4110;  chadkister@gmail.com

Author Announces $60,000 settlement; puts Pittsburgh Police on Notice

With Tens of thousands of people expected to attend the upcoming demonstrations against the G-20 in Pittsburgh September 24-25, Author Chad Kister is announcing a $60,000 settlement that he received from the Metropolitan Police Department for being beaten nearly to death at the International Monetary Fund/World Bank Demonstrations on April 16, 2000.

"I am putting the police on notice that we will hold them accountable for their actions," Kister said. "Because they wear reflective visors, police at these mass demonstrations think they are anonymous and can get away with anything. I am living proof that they can and will be help accountable for their brutality."

People who experience any form of repression, including efforts to organize people to get to the demonstration, or during transit to Pittsburgh, please go to www.resistG20.org and report it. Numerous lawyers are volunteering their time to help protect demonstrators against the Gestapo police force that intimidates people from attending these demonstrations.

"I have been beaten nearly to death at one of these mass demonstrations and I will be in Pittsburgh, on the front line," Kister said. "Fundamental to the principals of the First Amendment is the right of our citizens to peaceably assemble and express our opinions. I have witnessed and been the victim of horrific police brutality and misconduct at past demonstrations, but I urge people to have the courage to get to Pittsburgh September 24-25 to protest the global atrocities and inequities that the G-20 represents."

The G-20 works to undermine the democracy of all countries involved, by drafting decisions without the transparency and democracy seen in the Congress. Congress is then forced to sign on to one agreement, with no opportunity to make changes. This has undermined our environmental laws and shipped jobs to countries like China, which pay $1 a day and have often have abhorred environmental standards.

On April 16, 2000, Kister was beaten nearly to death while sitting peacefully. An army of about 50 motorcycle police, and another 50 police on foot charged toward where Kister was sitting, knocked him back and stepped on his hands and feet. Officers beat on Kister's chest, and one officer came down with all of his weight on a metal baton, breaking three ribs and collapsing Kister's right lung.

Kister then tried to turn over, to protect his ribs, and the officers beat on his kidneys. Fortunately, a friend of Kister's, came into the police assault, and pulled him to safety. Medics on the scene documented an erratic pulse, and said that Kister nearly died. He was rushed to Howard University Hospital, where the broken ribs and damaged kidneys were documented.

Because he was unable to identify the officer, who wore a reflective visor and no unique identifying number, he was unable to get punitive damages, which would have likely pushed the settlement in excess of $250,000.

"Police need to wear large unique identifying numbers so that the bad apples cannot hide in the mass of anonymous police," Kister said. "Now, we are bringing in police from Canada in an effort to protect them from liability when they attack demonstrators."

This repression violates the principals of American Democracy, and it is in violation of international Human Rights laws as well.

"I urge people to have the courage to get to Pittsburgh," Kister said. "Remember what our forefathers have fought and died for to bring us the freedom to demonstrate peacefully, and do not allow anyone to stop you from expressing your outrage at these trade agreements that are sending our jobs overseas and dismantling our hard-fought environmental and workers safety laws."

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