Billy J. Randel, right, a union representative of The Industrial Workers of the World, appears with his lawyer, Gerard Cobleigh, in Superior Court, where organizers of the group agreed to halt picketing of Kin Wah “Jacky” Ko’s five Jacky’s Galaxie restaurants yesterday.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

NORTH PROVIDENCE — The Industrial Workers of the World, the group alleging brutality by the North Providence police over the arrest of a demonstrator last weekend whose leg was twisted and broken, announced yesterday that it is now willing to seek the town’s permission for a second march down Mineral Spring Avenue, on Aug. 26.

A day after saying that it had no intention of applying for a permit for a march from North Providence Town Hall to the town’s police station, organizer Mark Bray said the workers’ rights group will try to work within the law.

“We are changing course because we’ve found out a lot more people are coming than expected,” said Bray, who predicted that as many as 500 supporters from the Northeast could show up for the march. “Hopefully the town will approve our application because we don’t want any violence with the police.”

The group, whose Providence chapter has about 35 members, drew attention last weekend after Alexandra Svoboda, a member, suffered a severe leg injury while being arrested during a demonstration against Jacky’s Galaxie restaurant on Mineral Spring Avenue.

While the Police Department is interviewing witnesses to that incident — with plans to forward the results to Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch — the group has said that the 22-year-old college student was a victim of police brutality.

Bray said that the purpose of the next march “will be to highlight the specific case involving Alex and to call on the Greater Providence community to reject the actions of the North Providence police.”

His announcement came on a day that saw a development on the legal front. In a hearing before Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein, the group’s organizers agreed to halt their picketing of Kin Wah “Jacky” Ko’s five Galaxie restaurants.

The group said it had targeted Ko because he was buying supplies from HWH Trading, a firm in New York City’s Chinatown under investigation in New York for illegal practices, including requiring its workers to work more than 100 hours a week without payment for overtime. But Ko insisted that he stopped buying from HWH in July after learning of the group’s complaints and that he was being defamed.

Ko told The Journal that it was difficult to say how much he lost as a result of three days of picketing by the IWW, but his business this past week has been “very slow.” The owner said he never used HWH to buy meat or fish, and that he had relied on the firm primarily for paper containers used for takeout, as well as for rice.

He said that he used to spend about $1,000 a month with the company, but not anymore. He said the workers’ group knew that he severed the relationship but the group targeted and “used me” anyway.

Ko’s attorney, David A. Ursillo, said his client had filed a defamation lawsuit against the workers’ rights group as part of its request for a temporary restraining order and was mulling yesterday whether he would continue that suit.

Mayor Charles Lombardi said he welcomes the news that the workers’ rights group now intends to follow the law.

“If they meet all the requirements, I’m sure they will be a granted a permit,” he said. But the mayor hedged on the question as to whether that permit would include marching down the middle of Mineral Spring Avenue, a state road.

“Because it is a state road, I think the state rules will supersede us. We are going to be meeting with representatives of the state police [today] for their advice and guidance, and for their help.”

A few days ago the mayor said he was opposed to the group marching down the middle of Mineral Spring Avenue, calling it a major road that sees an average of 35 rescue runs to Our Lady of Fatima Hospital each day.

Yesterday, Lombardi said he could not recall any group receiving permission to hold a march down Mineral Spring Avenue. But he said that he was seeking the state’s permission for the town to hold its first-ever parade up Douglas Avenue from Mineral Spring Avenue to Notte Park next Memorial Day weekend.

Led by the Rev. Mark Danron of Cincinnati, the IWW has 2,000 members, according to organizers. Bray, who said he receives no compensation for his work, says that while the group often functions as a traditional union negotiating on behalf of its members, it also believes in “minority unionism.” It works on behalf of employees who do not have a union to represent them by seeking to apply economic pressure in nontraditional ways, such as going to establishments that buy from the firm and asking them to sever their relationships.

The group’s mission statement, found on the IWW Web site, declares that “the working class and the employing class have nothing in common” and that between these two classes a struggle must go on until the workers of the world organize as a class, take possession of the means of production, abolish the wage system and live in harmony with the Earth.”

Bray said he subscribes to that statement, a credo that underlies membership in the organization.

rdujardi@projo.com