Animal Rights Activists Plead Not Guilty
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ATLANTA — Dozens of jailed animal rights protesters pleaded not guilty Monday, declined to post bond and said they would conduct a hunger strike to protest their treatment.
They were arrested Saturday after police fired tear gas and pepper spray into a crowd that pushed through a barricade at Emory University’s Yerkes Primate Research Center. Protest organizer Jean Barnes said 53 activists, who face charges including trespassing and inciting a riot, did not plan to post bond and would not leave the jail until all of them were freed.
The Yerkes Center is part of a network of primate research centers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The center uses primates in research on AIDS, cardiovascular disease and drug abuse.
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