Prescott Food not Bombs is Under Attack : AZ IMC

People sharing food with Food Not Bombs, a free community meal (not an
organization) was asked to leave the Prescott Courthouse lawn today
(Sunday)or sign a permit. No one represents Food Not Bombs, so permits do
not apply and sharing food is not a charity. It's what people do in a
healthy society wherever they please without asking for permission and
paying a tax on it.

Six or eight years ago, Prescott Food Not Bombs came under fire by a
county parks rule that prohibited "organized gatherings without a permit".
Individuals continued to show up anyway to exercise their right to share
food with each other. If a charitable church decided to serve food in a
hierarchical manner, then that may be a legal issue. Individuals sharing
food with each other, however, is not something that is prohibitable.

A few years ago, when the city police were called in, it was decided that
no one was breaking any city laws, and Food Not Bombs was simply an idea
of people sharing food in an open picnic. The courthouse is county
property. No one escalated the situation by arguing, so no arrests were
made and the eating continued. The city police were not able to enforce
any laws. All branches of county government conceded that they could not
enforce it, either, because no one was in charge of any organization.
People individually showed up to the park to eat food.

Now, we're in the same situation. Someone in the county government,
whether it was the individual security guard or, (as the security guard
described) his supervisor and county executives, decided that people are
now prohibited, after six or eight years, from sharing food together in
the park. The city police were called in today, and they only half-acted
like they had any jurisdiction while asking us to respect park rules. They
appeared to have only a mediator role, however. Everyone left.

This Wednesday, 5:00pm, at the Catalyst (109 N. McCormick, behind
Porky's), we will have an informational and strategic meeting. There are
some communications with the county and the Mayor, and more details should
develop before Wednesday.

Some people are planning on sharing food together at the regular time,
3:00, on Sunday. A portion of the meeting will be devoted to planning for
this. If we can repeat the same situation as last time with no one
exchanging argumental words with security or police, we may have a chance
of not getting run off the Square, even if the city police show up. There
are no guarantees, however, of not getting arrested, even if no one got
arrested last time around. Please keep this in mind. Also keep in mind
that the county (or city) would look very bad if they arrested a bunch of
peaceful people for sharing food.

We encourage everyone to attend this meeting, but keep in mind, this is
not a space to lecture anyone about whether they should or should not
disobey a security guard's order. Some people will decide to do this, and
some may decide to engage in other types of support. That autonomy needs
to be respected if we wish to have a productive meeting.