San Francisco court commissioner dismisses charges against most protesters
San Francisco-AP -- A San Francisco court commissioner has dismissed charges against hundreds of anti-war protesters. Most of the citations involved trespassing and blocking streets.
A defense attorney had asked for the dismissals, alleging that authorities had altered some citations and that there were no police reports to support the charges in many cases.
The court has agreed to dismiss charges against almost all of the 23-hundred people rounded up during protests in the days before and after the start of the Iraq war.
The commissioner is giving prosecutors ten days to come up with formal complaints -- but that's not expected to happen.
So far, not one of the arrested protesters has been found guilty or has paid a fine. Twenty still face misdemeanor charges.
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