Activist, Chalker, Blogger talking about the surveillance state in Minnesota. In September 2011, Melissa Hill was the first person arrested in connection with Occupy MN protests. Following a lawsuit claiming she was wrongfully arrested for trespassing on what was public property, she received a $15,000 settlement for her trouble.
Hill now has a blog, “Track the Police,” devoted to using public Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPR) data to keep tabs on the movements of law enforcement vehicles.
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/100757862]From the Peacestock website:
MELISSA HILL is a Minneapolis peace activist and critic of the surveillance state. Over the past three years, she helped lead local organizing efforts in the Twin Cities area for WikiLeaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Besides her efforts for peace and anti-war causes, she started the blog “Track the Police”, encouraging the use of public record laws to track the movements of the police themselves. Her blog was recently featured on Al Jazeera America.
She also has the rare distinction of being represented by the ACLU twice, in two different states, in cases involving violations of her First Amendment rights. In one case, as an independent journalist with Twin Cities Indymedia, she had her footage stolen and video camera broken during the 2009 Pittsburgh G-20. In the other case, Melissa was detained, searched, and trespassed for chalking “Don’t Enlist, Resist” on a public sidewalk outside a federal building. Fortunately, this case resulted in a settlement asserting the right to chalk outside of federal properties in Minneapolis. Thus, she encourages everyone to pick up a piece of chalk and assert that right!
Besides activism, she also enjoys biking, travel, photography, and caring for a crew of cats. You can find her on Twitter (@smilyus) and YouTube.
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on public sidewalks
Do i have the right to chalk in little falls mn since there is an ordinance prohibiting chalking? 320-360-3931