lily phan, who attempted to pie alberta premier ed stelmach at his 2008 stampede breakfast, has been sentenced to the now-standard 30 days.

lily offered no apologies to and said she was glad her actions have sparked discussions on homelessness and poverty in calgary.

lily will be serving her time on weekends despite her request to do her time continuously.

pie pair member lily will be sentenced on monday august 31 in calgary for having attempted to pie alberta premier ed stelmach.

those who wish to come support lily are invited to attend at room 1005 of the calgary court house at 2 pm on monday august, 31.

abc calgary wishes lily the best of luck!

mikhail miller is an anti-fascist activist detained by police and issued with nearly $900 in bylaw offence tickets for his participation in the march 21, 2009, anti-racist action confrontation of the aryan guard.

background
on march 21, 2009, approximately 500 anti-racist activists confronted forty members of the neo-nazi gang the aryan guard in downtown calgary. after the aryan guard had been whisked away to safety by the police in taxpayer-funded buses and the anti-racist crowd was dispersing, the calgary police detained anti-racist demonstrator mikhail miller and issued him with $887 in bylaw offence tickets for various alleged infractions.

it is common practice in calgary for the police to harass demonstrators with bylaw tickets, especially since the passing of the "boorish behaviour" bylaw which outlaws such activities as spitting, loitering and standing on public structures such as park benches.

mikhail has indicated he intends to fight the tickets.

abc calgary supports mikhail but does not speak for or issue statements on his behalf.

the splitting the sky defense effort is a campaign to provide financial support to the splitting the sky support team.

background
on march 17, 2009, splitting the sky, also known as john boncore, was arrested in calgary while attempting to serve former president george w. bush with an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

splitting the sky was charged with "obstructing a peace officer" and was remanded over night before being released on a $500 surety. splitting the sky intends to fight the charges laid against him and asserts that under international law, any canadian citizen is permitted to affect a citizen's arrest against any war criminal on canadian soil, including george w. bush.

about splitting the sky
splitting the sky is a first nations activist of long pedigree and is most well known for his involvement in the 1971 prisoner uprising in attica state prison and his prominent position in the gustafson lake standoff in 1995.

more information about splitting the sky can be found on his wikipedia entry. splitting the sky maintains a blog detailing updates on his case and activism.

abc calgary's involvement
abc calgary will be making an initial cash contribution from our "war chest" fund to splitting the sky's support group. further fundraising efforts may be initiated as needed.

abc calgary supports splitting the sky but does not speak for or issue statements on his behalf.

calgary abc is announcing two new support campaigns.

splitting the sky
on march 17 splitting the sky (also known as john boncore) was arrested in calgary for attempting to serve former u.s. president george w. bush with a warrant for war crimes. he was charged with "obstructing a peace officer" and has been released on a $500 surety. splitting the sky intends to fight the charges.

abc calgary is committed to helping splitting the sky through acts of solidarity and financial assistance.

more information on splitting the sky can be found on his blog and wikipedia page.

mikhail miller
mikhail miller is an anti-racism activist who participated in the march 21 anti-racist action demonstration against the aryan guard in calgary. although mikhail has not been charged with any crime, he has been issued with $887 in bylaw tickets and fines. it is common practice in calgary for the police to 'ticket to death' activists they wish to harass. mikhail is commmitted to fighting the ticket charges.

abc calgary will be assisting mikhail financially for his lawyer fees to fight his bylaw charges.

for further details on these campaigns or abc calgary please contact abc calgary at abc-calgary@anarchistservices.ca

lily, the last remaining defendant of the pie pair, has just finished her trail with the verdict expected sometime "after february". her statement on the whole process is below:

"first of all, i want to thank everyone who has shown such support and encouragement to me while i am going through the legal system. it makes the process a whole lot easier!

previously, on the first day of trial, the crown prosecutor had presented five witnesses and my lawyer had me take the stand. the first day was adjourned before i was cross-examined.

today was the second day of trial and actually only lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. i was cross-examined and my lawyer presented one witness for the defense. the verdict was adjourned to a later date, after february.

result: inconclusive. i don't know if i will be found guilty on any charge. there is still the possibility of jail...but not until february at least!

highlights of first day of trial: the cops said i was wiry and strong and that i was a handful. the crown presented video footage from ctv and it showed i actually touched stelmach's hat!! my aim is vindicated!

highlights of second day of trial: i debated the physics of cream pie with the crown and whether it was possible pie filling could fly backwards. we did agree that the physics of throwing pie filling is different from that of throwing a baseball. the judge let me wear my scarf around my head to keep warm. my witness debated the consistency of cream pie with the crown; eventually, they agreed it was 'loose'.

well, that's the gist of it.

i'm happy i'm not in jail tonight but once the system has you, your life is theirs until they spit you out :)

still, my situation is more comical than dire. the system has persecuted and is persecuting people in worse ways, so i encourage everyone to support canadian political prisoners (well, ALL political prisoners, really, but the ones in canada are the ones we can significantly support), families in the child welfare system and all those caught in the legal system because of poverty and racism.

thank you to all again and hopefully, i will be writing the next update on this side of the cell!"

due to the sudden bad weather, the cctv walk has been postponed until further notice.

sorry for any inconvenience.

In early December, the City of Calgary started the process of installing their new Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) surveillance system. 22 cameras are planned for the city's east end. This program of indiscriminate surveillance should be of concern to all Calgarians who are concerned about their privacy.

On Friday, December 12, ABC Calgary will be hosting a camera-spotting walk as part of its "Camera-Free Calgary" campaign. It will be a leisurely saunter around the east end to find, identify and map each of the city's new surveillance cameras. We believe that it is important that Calgarians know exactly where these cameras are and where they are pointed... and if the CPS won't divulge this information, then we just have to go out and find it out ourselves.

What: An evening of CCTV camera spotting and leisurely walking
When: Friday, December 12th. 7:00 pm
Where: Northeast corner of Olympic Plaza (across the street from the library)
Why: To find and map Calgary's new CCTV cameras

This event is planned to take about an hour and there will be a lot of walking: wear comfortable shoes and dress warmly.