Students arrested during the G-20 drink to raise money for court proceedings

Three months after the G-20 Summit brought protesters and riot police to Pittsburgh, some of the… Three months after the G-20 Summit brought protesters and riot police to Pittsburgh, some of the people who were arrested want to raise money to help cover their court costs.

Pitt student Keith DeVries and CMU student Casey Brander are organizing an event to raise money for the G-20 Legal Defense Fund, which supports people arrested during September’s Summit. They called the event “Drink for Justice — WWMLKD?”

The Facebook event listing says the proceeds will go toward “those of us still in the fight.” Court proceedings take forever and are expensive, it says. It’s been almost 90 days since the first group of G-20 trials, and the next major round of hearings begins Wednesday.

So Sunday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. at the Rock Room in Polish Hill, people can “drink for justice” — with a $5 cover charge, live DJs and free food.

DeVries is facing misdemeanor charges for failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. He said that while some lawyers in the city were offering cheap representation for people arrested, especially students, many of those lawyers encouraged students to accept the court’s offer to complete 50 hours of community service, delaying their trials for 90 days, until they can prove they’ve done their service and have their charges dropped.

DeVries chose not to take the community service. His charges were waived for a later court date.

He said he’s luckier than most.

“A lot of kids are coming from out of town,” he said. “This whole process is very expensive for them.”

Brander was also arrested during the G-20. Her charges were withdrawn, but she’s still waiting for her record to be expunged.

She said that because the court proceedings “drag on forever,” many people need help from the G-20 Legal Defense Fund.

“I was lucky,” she said. “But it is still so important, it doesn’t just go away. For several weeks of my life, I couldn’t think about anything else.”

“Drink for Justice” is a way for everyone to get together, have a little fun before they continue the fight and raise money, Brander said.

“We are just trying to engage students and talk to them about what happened,” DeVries said. “So nobody forgets.”

DeVries said he’s seen other events similar to “Drinking for Justice.” These events, he said, are less about drinking and more about bringing people together.

“People rally around drinking for all types of reasons, many of them pretty silly in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “This is a chance to rally around something for a cause — for a change.”

DeVries said the event’s purpose is not to change the perceptions of the community.

“People in the outside community already have their preconceptions about students and especially about students who were arrested during the G-20,” he said. “And really, there’s no changing that.”