For Immediate Release UCLA Gets Watered Down 2-Week Restraining Order Against Five Activists Los Angeles- As UCLA spent the day in a Santa Monica Courtroom securing a temporary watered-down restraining order against legal protesters, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) coincidently issued an anonymous
communique taking credit for the latest attack on infamous primate killer Edythe London. London is widely despised for her abusive treatment of non-human primates, including those she addicts to nicotine and methamphetamines in gruesome, redundant and useless experiments in UCLA laboratories. "Edyth London, you and your work are deplorable. You are given paychecks in exchange for addicting primates, the closest kin that the human species knows, to numerous sickeningly addicting drugs like crystal meth. For forcing these innocent and sensitive beings to suffer through a type of hell that they would never encounter if it wasn't for your deranged science you deserve to know true justice. This is why on February 3rd 2008 we left an incendiary device at your house at 1246 Shadybrook in Beverly Hills. Edyth, the fire that night was exactly the size we wanted it to be. It was just a little outreach because we want to see you make the sound ethical choice to stop vivisecting primates. We know what we are doing and fires can be much larger. Edyth, your secrets are very ugly and the spotlights on them are getting brighter. You make us sick and you inspire us into action Edyth. As each day begins and nothing that you own is burning consider yourself lucky. Now is the time to stop vivisecting. We don't back down. Ever." While high-priced UCLA lawyers spent Thursday morning arguing that five above ground picketers working with the UCLA Primate Freedom Project should be "restrained" from focused demonstrations 50 feet from private residences (already a local law in most jurisdictions), it was business as usual for other activists planning further protests for the upcoming weekend.
Strangely enough, the clandestine activists of the Animal Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Brigade didn't bother to arrive in court; it seems unlikely a civil restraining order will deter them much. For more information, and to read the entire communique from the ALF, visit: www.animalliberationpressoffice.org. 818.227-5022 [Inside Higher Ed] As a battleground for the animal liberation movement, the University of California at Los Angeles has weathered threats, intimidation and property damage directed against several of its researchers over the past few years. Today -- two weeks after a firebomb went off at the same professor's house that in October was flooded with a garden hose -- the university moved beyond law enforcement, the bully pulpit and security reinforcements and filed a lawsuit against three groups and five individuals. The suit, which will be filed formally in state court this morning, is the latest in a series of steps the campus has taken against activists who view their tactics -- which have included attempting to use Molotov cocktails on researchers' doorsteps and sending a package filled with razor blades -- as legitimate protest against experiments and testing that sometimes involves harming or killing animals. ... ... In an added wrinkle, several of the groups are "underground" with members who are not publicly known. The groups named in the suit are the Animal Liberation Front, which was named by the FBI in 2005 as a top domestic terrorist threat; the Animal Liberation Brigade; and the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, an independently run local chapter of a national umbrella group whose members are often students. The university's announcement stated that some of the individuals named in the lawsuit have "recently been the subjects of temporary restraining orders and injunctions prohibiting them from harassing employees affiliated with the City of Los Angeles and private institutions." It is not clear how the university would approach the discovery phase of litigation to obtain the identities of the groups' leaders. ... While the underground groups could not be reached for comment, a group that supports them is the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, which posts anonymous messages that sometimes advocate violence. A spokesman, Jerry Vlasak, said it was an "above-ground" organization that is "supportive of animal liberation activities." He defended the activities of people who have attacked UCLA research. "These are activists who are willing to risk their own lives and freedom in order to help animals," he said. "I don't think it's much of a reach from a moral or ethical standpoint" to support someone who responded to an attack on his pet dog to someone who worked to prevent harm done to animals in research laboratories, he added. "It would be like suing the IRA," Vlasak said of UCLA's litigation. "These people don't exist in any sort of organizational form." He also predicted that the strategy was "bound to fail" on First Amendment grounds. -- full story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/21/ucla February 21, 2008 UCLA Files For Restraining Order Against Animal Activists Los Angeles- In an obvious act of desperation, UC Regents have sought a restraining order against activists campaigning to stop their abusive treatment of non-human primates, including those being addicted to nicotine and methamphetamines in gruesome experiments of redundant and useless research in UCLA laboratories. For more information visit, www.animalliberationpressoffice.org. 818.227-5022 www.animalliberationpressoffice.org Feb 20, 2008 UCLA is suing extremists to stop a campaign of terrorism, vandalism and menacing threats directed at faculty and administrators who conduct or support research involving laboratory animals. A hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 21 in Department A of Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica, when a judge will formally receive the complaint and hear arguments on a temporary restraining order. A hearing on a preliminary injunction is expected in two to three weeks. The lawsuit names three groups and five individuals as defendants and seeks a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction prohibiting them from harassing UCLA personnel or facilitating their harassment. The University of California Regents, which oversees all 10 UC campuses, is serving as the plaintiff of record on behalf of UCLA. On three occasions since June 2006, Molotov cocktail-type devices have been left near the homes of UCLA faculty who conduct or oversee research involving animals. In addition, their homes have been vandalized and they have received threatening phone calls, e-mails and, on at least one occasion, a package rigged with razor blades. Extremists have appeared at residences in the middle of the night, worn ski masks to conceal their identity and used megaphones to shout threats, obscenities and epithets. "Enough is enough," UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said. "We're not willing to wait until somebody is injured before taking legal action to protect our faculty and administrators from terrorist tactics, violence and harassment." -- full story:
http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/campus-files-suit-to-protect-researchers-45485.aspx
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