Jesse Jackson joins Detroit protest

DETROIT, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- The Rev. Jesse Jackson and a coalition of pastors, civil rights leaders and officials have voiced strong opposition to Michigan's new emergency manager law.

Jackson and others compared emergency managers to dictators who could subvert the democratic process with unilateral authority to trash union contracts, sell off cherished assets and cut essential services, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.

"We are prepared to go from education, mobilization, litigation, legislation, demonstration and civil disobedience," Jackson said during a press conference.

His comments came after Detroit moved closer to appointing an emergency manager following the release of a state financial report that painted a bleaker-than-expected picture of Detroit's financial problems.

Jackson and others slammed the "recklessness" of an emergency manager bill that allows the state to remove elected officials.

The coalition leaders did not rule out civil disobedience.

"We are prepared to utilize all of the measures afforded to us citizens to protect democracy," said David Bullock, president of the Michigan Chapter of the Rainbow Coalition, a civil rights group led by Jackson.

"We aren't going to take it any longer," he said. "We marched, fought and died for our right to vote. Enough is enough. We will not allow democracy to be dismantled."