Independent Media Centre Ireland     http://www.indymedia.ie

Food Not Bombs activist arrested and charged for feeding people

category international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press author Saturday April 07, 2007 14:30author by Seán Ryan

Eric Montanez arrested and charged with feeding the hungry.

Food Not Bombs, a 'radical' group in the US have made headlines all over the planet this morning.

21 year old activist, Eric Montanez, has been arrested in Miami for feeding hungry people. Apparently, Montanez decided to become a criminal, as he thought that feeding people was more important than trying to sell stuff to them.

Montanez, broke the law by attempting to feed a group of 30 people, in violation of a law that states that feeding groups of more than 25 people is illegal. Apparently poverty, homelessness and starvation, tends to put people off, in regard to splurging out for luxuries in the shops of Florida.

Montanez will be the first person ever to be prosecuted under this law.

Police took samples of the stew that Montanez presumed to feed people with. In Florida, in order to feed groups of more than 25 people, one needs to secure a special permit. One can only be issued a special permit twice a year.

Well done Food Not Bombs and Eric Montanez.

There are many such laws in the US. For example, in Atlanta, it's illegal to give a starving person a sandwich that you prepared at home.

How long will it be before we catch up with these progressive laws, in good ole, flexible and impressionable Ireland?

Related Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN05171935200...70405



Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.