FBI spying on law-abiding war protestors

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The FBI has collected information about tactics and training used by antiwar protesters in an effort to blunt potential violence by extremist elements, a federal law enforcement official said Sunday.

The FBI warned of tactics used by such groups in a weekly bulletin circulated to 15,000 law enforcement agencies around the country last month before large demonstrations in Washington and San Francisco to protest the Iraq war.

It described activist strategies like videotaping arrests to intimidate police and using the Internet to recruit and raise funds.

Civil rights groups and legal scholars quoted by The New York Times expressed concern that monitoring protesters could signal a return to the abuses of the 1960s and 1970s, when J. Edgar Hoover was FBI director and agents routinely spied on political protesters including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The resulting restrictions on FBI investigations of political activities were relaxed last year when Attorney General John Ashcroft, citing the September 11, 2001 attacks, issued guidelines giving agents authority to attend political rallies, mosques and any other public events.


www.cnn.com...


Here we go, they already are starting to classify protesters as terrorists and are using the same powers provided to them in the "patriot act" aginst protesters instead of against terrorist cells wanting to do extreme damage to civilian populations....

What has happened here? This should be a hot topic folks!!!
It doesn't get anymore important than this IMHO.

Kudos sirCyco for posting this.

The hammer is coming down...and on the wrong people. I know an activist who leads seminars on non-violent protest and has been black-listed by TSA in the last month. Between this and what was witneesed in Miami on Friday, 2004 is setting up to be the Royal Rumble.

I was a bit suprised nobody bothered to read the article too...guess they dont realy care about thier rights..

this page has got 20 views all day..yet jacko's house raided is well on its way to 2,000....its sad really...well i can see where most peoples priorities are...

[Edited on 11-24-2003 by sirCyco]

Well I'm happy that the CIA was there.

I get nervous when the commies, unions, anarchists, atheists, gays and dykes, radical students, and any other perpetually angry type gets together to plot the downfall of my society.

I hope they brought a lot of film too.

together to plot the downfall of my society.

your society...please...i dont even consider you part of the same species..your more of a bottom feeder

[Edited on 11-24-2003 by sirCyco]

Look out the CIA is displaying Intelligence !
The support for these groups isnt always as innocent as you my think

last time i checked the 9/11 hijackers were not polictical protesters that routinely protested the wto among other groups....these people are not radical islamic terrorists and using these types of spy tatics is wrong...we are not free by a long shot..

SirCyco,

what the hell does that mean anyways?

well from one bottom feeder to annother,

hope that I don't meet you in the gutter.

It means your a racist little rodent spreading your ignorance where ever you go....your against these protests but you know you like the kkk rallies that you always attend with your other white supremists rat buddies....

We should BLACK mail EVERYONE of these SO CALLED ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS!

They diserve to go to Iraq and see way we really are FIGHTING there!

These peices of # dont know anything!

They just listen to CNN and other anti-Bush channels!

They are protesting the other PEOPLES FREEDOM!

MORONS!

you dont make sense....which does not suprise me at all

[Edited on 11-24-2003 by sirCyco]

You are just stupid which doesnt surpise me either.



[Edited on 24-11-2003 by Russian]

We should BLACK mail EVERYONE of these SO CALLED ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS!

no my friend ,your are quite obviously the stupid one..

HAHA

They are just so called ANTI-WAR PROTESTERS!

They dont care about the war!

They are just like YOU!

They are MORONS who just HATE Bush cause he is not Clinton!

I hate clinton too...im not a liberal democrat either...so where does that leave your retarded redundent arguments...you have to actually think of something original besides the same old garbage you usually spew out....

[Edited on 11-24-2003 by sirCyco]

So who are you a smoking weed Green party?!

I dont think i necessarily have to align my self with any self-serving-back-stabing-hypocrit-racist-money hungry-power hungry-evil-politcal parties...but if anything i would like to see a libertarian in the white house

Then go for it get a libertarian in office who will really finish US down fall.

Then go for it get a libertarian in office who will really finish US down fall.

how do you figure??...oh wait i really shouldnt ask you because your just gonna spew out more ignorant garbage...

I have commented many times on these boards about the fact that MANY "groups" are staging "protests" under the guise of "Anti War In Iraq" whie their TRUE agenda is to gain membership in their ANTI American loser brigade...

They suck the well meaning, yet ignorant citizen into their parade in the hopes of enjoining him/her to their TRUE agenda which is without fail to bring America to its knees.

Once caught up in the furor/adrenylin of the moment most sign up without so much as a clue to what they have actually joined.

THIS is what the FBI is looking into and I say "Where do I donate to the cause"?!

These commies and pinkos have been plying their trade in deciept for TOO LONG now unchallenged. I say CHALLENGE them. MAKE them prove their harmlessness in COURT.

Usually I am against using the courts to settle petty disputes BUT this is NO petty dispute. THIS IS the future of our great country.

If those who seek to do us harm think they can come here and deploy methodology that will cause harm without consequence WE ARE ALREADY BEATEN...

P...
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