Anthony Messer, a People's organizer from Santa Cruz who was under attack by Police, suspected to be victim of hit squad

"Evidence That Anthony Messer May Have Been Murdered by Santa Cruz Law Enforcement"

2013-12-21 by Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency:
[Photo: Anthony Messer on right, Former political prisoner Ed Frey on left]

* For more on Anthony Messer, see [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2013/12/11/18747660.php].
* For more on how the homeless are treated in Santa Cruz, see [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/05/18718924.php?show_comments=1].
* For more on Ed Frey's case, see [https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/07/29/18718520.php].
* For information on the crisis of homeless children in America, see [http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/reading-club-invisible-child/?_r=0].

Anthony Messer, shown here protesting against anti-homeless laws, died December 2nd. I knew Anthony Messer. He was a young homeless veteran. He was also an activist for the rights of the homeless, activist in the Occupy movement, and he stood up against the jailing of political activists in Santa Cruz like Ed Frey and Gary Johnson.
It is no secret that Anthony Messer, like many activists in Santa Cruz, was the victim of vicious police harassment. Here is video of Anthony Messer describing and earlier attempt on his life by Santa Cruz law enforcement where they poured water on him on a cold night:
[begin video description]
"ReOccupy Day 8 Deputies Throw Water at 2AM",
2012-02-24 [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEWCKzlJPUk]
Anthony reports that last night at 2AM deputies rousted him by throwing water on him. They soaked him and his sleeping bag. He says he had not shivered so much last night than his deep snow training in Wisconsin.
So much for ReOccupation strategy advise from Lt. Amy Christey of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff Office.
Occupy Santa Cruz maintains a 24/7 protest vigil on the Santa Cruz County Courthouse steps on Water Street. This was the site of the OccuDome which was removed by the Sheriffs on 4Dec2012. The public space is known as the OccuDome Plaza.
Occupy Santa Cruz holds its General Assembly at the OccuDome Plaza on Tuesday and Thursday at 6PM and Saturday at 2PM. Sunday General Assembly is 2PM on the steps of the Santa Cruz Post Office on Front Street. For more information contact Occupy Santa Cruz Media Group at http://occupysantacruz.org/contact
[end video description].

Santa Cruz Police are already known for murdering an activist for the homeless. His name was John Dine. The police shot twice and killed the unarmed John Dine. The official cover-up claimed that John Dine was reaching for what looked like a gun. The Santa Cruz Sentinel claimed that John Dine was a deranged man who was pointing a toy gun at the police. All independent eyewitnesses dispute these accounts. There was no toy gun, pointed or otherwise, when John Dine was shot down in cold blood on Front Street in November of 1998. No police went to prison or were even disciplined for that murder.
Likewise, the Santa Cruz Police had a campaign of murdering homeless people in the 1980s called Operation Code Blue. That is what cops would call it over the radio. What they knew "Operation Code Blue" meant was that they were going to beat a homeless person to death in their sleeping bag. Despite testimony of fellow officers, no cop did time for those crimes.
Anthony Messer died in the middle of a cold snap as police harassment and robbery of tents and sleeping bags had driven homeless people further to the brink. It is my opinion that it is murder to take away people's ability to stay warm in the cold. Further more, dousing homeless people with water on a cold night, as they did to Anthony Messer, is attempted murder.
Santa Cruz law enforcement have a history of committing murder against brave activists for justice like Anthony Masser. In addition, they had already made at least one attempt on Anthony Messer's life. This is evidence. It shows a proclivity of local law enforcement to carry out political repression, even to the point of murder. It shows one attempt that was already made by them on Anthony Messer's life before he died. And it shows a systemic proclivity to cover up murder by local law enforcement, government, and corporate media after the fact.
The Santa Cruz coroner says that Anthony Messer appeared to have died from a fall near his campsite. Was this actually the trauma of a police beating? Homeless activists in town know of clear cases where the coroners office has lied about the violent deaths of homeless people. Truth is, we cannot believe the local government. Without an investigation independent of the local government, there is every reason to be suspicious of the official story.
The fact that homeless people are currently dying from the elements is also a crime. Under this system there is plenty of foreclosed housing owned by banks that could house every homeless person in America.

[signed] Steven Argue for the Revolutionary Tendency,
In Memorium - Anthony Messer Présente!
For a People's Public Inquiry Into the Death of Anthony Massr!
For the Nationalization of the Banks, Expropriation of the Landlords, Abolition of Rent, And Housing For All! For A planned Socialist Economy that Guarantees Health Care, Employment, Housing, and Free Education For All! For Proletarian Revolution in America to Smash the Capitalist State, Including the Liquidation of All Current Law Enforcement Agencies, and the Establishment of Revolutionary Workers State and Workers Democracy!