Amnesty International wrote today to District Attorney Arlo Smith in San Francisco, USA, to request further information about concerns the organization has about the alleged harassment and arrests of the members of the group “Food Not Bombs”. Since September 1993 Robert Kahn, Keith McHenry and some 20 other volunteers have been arrested and charged (and in Mr Kahn’s case, convicted) in connection with their activities (distributing free food to poor and homeless people and disseminating literature on housing, peace, social justice, military spending and related issues). AI is aware that Food Not Bombs activists have been charged with criminal acts. However, it is disturbed by suggestions that the law may have ben used to harass and arrest these individuals because their activities are unpopular with the City administration.
