Providence IWW

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By Katie Mulvaney - Providence Journal Staff Writer, Friday, May 7, 2010

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Superior Court Judge Joseph F. Rodgers Jr. Friday ordered a new trial for the woman accused of assaulting North Providence police officers during a protest in August 2007.

Rodgers ordered a new trial for Alexandra Svoboda on three counts of simple assault on the officers. Rodgers said he did not feel convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Svoboda had assaulted the officers by striking them with drumsticks during the protest, despite a jury's finding last week that she was guilty on all three counts.

Rodgers did, however, let stand the jury's verdict that 25-year-old Svoboda had resisted arrest while picketing Jacky's Galaxie on Mineral Spring Avenue that hot August day.

Then the union secretary of the Industrial Workers of the World, Svoboda and others were protesting because the restaurant had purchased rice and takeout containers from a New York supply company accused of mistreating its employees.

From The Providence Journal

By David Scharfenberg

Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE — A year after a confrontation with police officers in North Providence left her with severe leg injuries, union organizer Alexandra Svoboda arrived at a rally yesterday with a cane, a knee brace and a message of defiance.

“This is the true spirit of resistance,” she said. “This is people saying, ‘no.’ ”

Svoboda, secretary of the Providence branch of the Industrial Workers of the World, was among a group of protesters who clashed with the police Aug. 11, 2007, while marching on Jacky’s Galaxie, a pan-Asian restaurant on Mineral Spring Avenue.

Union members were targeting Jacky’s because the eatery purchased rice and takeout containers from Dragon Land Trading, a restaurant supply company in Queens, N.Y., with a reputation for treating its employees poorly.

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NORTH PROVIDENCE, RI (AP) - A labor group is planning a rally Sunday to protest a scuffle earlier this month with North Providence police.

Local members of the [Industrial] Workers of the World accuse police of attacking 22-year-old Alexandra Svoboda during a protest outside a restaurant.

Police say Svoboda attacked police officers with drum sticks.

Her knee was badly injured during the scuffle.

Pictures taken by those at the rally show it bent at a grotesque angle.

IWW spokesman Mark Bray says the group wants Attorney General Patrick Lynch to drop all criminal charges against Svoboda and other group members.

They also want him to punish the police.

North Providence police have started an internal probe into the incident.

Lynch says prosecutors from his office and State Police will review the findings.