Critical Mass trials begin

Months after police clashed with hundreds of cyclists during a Critical Mass demonstration, the trial of one of the four bicyclists facing prosecution is scheduled to begin today. Augustin “Gus” Ganley was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer during the August 31 demonstration and faces up to $7,000 in fines and two years and three months in jail if convicted.

According to the Minneapolis Critical Mass Arrestee Support group, Ganley will appear in court with “his lawyer from the National Lawyers’ Guild and the citizens who support him,” as “the cops and the city can try to save face and have someone else to blame for their own misconduct.”

Critical Mass is a loosely organized bicyclist advocacy group which plans monthly events where cyclists ride through the streets en masse. Several hundred cyclists participated were met by forty-eight officers from six different law enforcement agencies during the fateful ride that resulted in the arrest of 19 people, including three minors and one on-looker.