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| J20 protests: Justice Department drops charges against 129 people involved in Trump inauguration day demonstrations | J20 protests: Justice Department drops charges against 129 people involved in Trump inauguration day demonstrations |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The US government has dismissed charges against two-thirds of the defendants previously facing up to 60 years in prison for protesting President Donald Trump's inauguration. | The US government has dismissed charges against two-thirds of the defendants previously facing up to 60 years in prison for protesting President Donald Trump's inauguration. |
| The US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced it would drop the charges against 129 of the remaining 188 defendants, almost a year to the day after they were arrested in the US capital. Fifty-nine defendants still face charges stemming from the January 2017 Disrupt J20 protest. | The US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia announced it would drop the charges against 129 of the remaining 188 defendants, almost a year to the day after they were arrested in the US capital. Fifty-nine defendants still face charges stemming from the January 2017 Disrupt J20 protest. |
| A jury cleared the first seven defendants to stand trial of all charges against them late last month. | |
| The Attorney's Office said it dropped the charges against the majority of the remaining defendants in order to "focus its efforts on this smaller, core group that we believe is most responsible for the destruction and violence that took place on Inauguration Day". | |
| Kris Hermes, a member of the Defend J20 group that formed in support of the defendants, said the group would continue to fight the remaining charges for these individuals. | |
| "We remain staunchly opposed to these prosecutions – period, full stop – and will do everything in our power to push back against these politically motivated prosecutions," he told The Independent. | |
| He added: "It’s clear from [the prosecution's] efforts so far that this is a case not about a few broken windows, but about an attempt to stifle dissent." | |
| More follows... | More follows... |