Judge Orders Release of 2004 RNC Surveillance
By Nicole Belle Monday Aug 06, 2007 4:14pm
NYTimes: (reg. req'd.)
A federal judge yesterday rejected New York City's efforts to prevent the release of nearly 2,000 pages of raw intelligence reports and other documents detailing the Police Department's covert surveillance of protest groups and individual activists before the Republican National Convention in 2004.
In a 20-page ruling, Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV ordered the disclosure of hundreds of field intelligence reports by undercover investigators who infiltrated and compiled dossiers on protest groups in a huge operation that the police said was needed to head off violence and disruptions at the convention.
But at the behest of the city and with the concurrence of civil liberties lawyers representing plaintiffs swept up in mass arrests during the convention, the judge agreed to the deletion of sensitive information in the documents to protect the identities of undercover officers and confidential informants and to safeguard police investigative methods and the privacy of individuals caught up in investigations.
The city had largely based its bid for nondisclosure on the need to protect those identities and methods, and argued that the public might misinterpret the documents or the news media sensationalize them. But the civil liberties lawyers insisted that the documents - even without the sensitive materials - were needed to show in court that the police had overstepped legal boundaries in arresting, detaining and fingerprinting hundreds of people instead of handing out summonses for minor offenses. Read on...
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Well now that the Dems caved in and passed Bush's revised FISA laws, what the NYC police did is now "within legal boundaries".
Please don't link to a paper that requires you to pay money to read stories...
Registration is free, just give your name...
Yeah, we might misconstrue the illegal spying as an infringement of our rights.
How many thousands of terrorists did they pick up in this sweep?
Alberto will block it's release somehow.
As Attorney General for
the United Statesoh, excuse meThe Attorney General for the Republic Party, he will simply reclassify it, and probably remove this obviously Activist Liberal Judge.
Cythraul @ 2:
you don't have to pay. You have to register.
and another possible block by ag to stop justice and protect the
crooks otherwise known as the gop.
First comes the oppression of dissent, then comes the violence.
Weaseldog @ 3:
I'd be willing to guess it was thousands times zero.
Spy on only the terrorists? How can we trust this crap when so many have been incarcerated for YEARS under false accusation?
How can we trust this crap when so many innocent people in Iraq have been raped and killed and the military wants to write it off as another, "Oops, my bad"...?
If you think that these obviously corrupt and self centered republican bastards will not use this wire-tapping authorization to win elections, you are one dumb ass naive nation of fast food eating cattle.
I wasn't there, but I assume it was a carbon copy of the Miami WTO meetings, where the cops swept up anybody who was on the street, including retirees and tourists, and mangled spectators with rubber bullets.
They want to scare people into not protesting, the same way they're chilling whistleblowers and journalists.
How many thousands of terrorists did they pick up in this sweep?
Depends on your definition of Terrorist?
By the Faux News/Hannity definition, if you don't kiss Bush's backside on a daily basis, you're a terrorist!
bamboozled @ 10:
Speaking of which...when was the last installment of reality journalism from Michael Ware? I guess truth cuts like a knife.
"Magistrate Judge James C. Francis IV ordered the disclosure of hundreds of field intelligence reports by undercover investigators who infiltrated and compiled dossiers on protest groups in a huge operation..."
more like agent provocateurs. i would be willing to wager a bet that some of these so-called "investigators", infiltrating these groups, tried to stear the groups to violence or destruction.
it happened in seattle, it happened in philly, it happened in DC, it happened in miami, i'm sure it happened in NYC.
our right to assemble is no more, we have our own secret police that infiltrates groups that are politically unpopular. their aim is NOT to investigate, but to attempt to stear groups into illegal activitity, at least that's my view of it. the RNC in Philly in 2000 really opened my eyes to the dastardly nature of these undercover agents
Samson- @ 13:
Carefull....the SITE MONITOR deleats suspected Conspiracy Therories.
bamboozled @ 10:
good ole john timmoney, letting loose his dogs of war on journalists, retirees and peaceful demonstrators...
if you aren't familiar with this occurence, do yourself a favor and check it out
LibertyLover @ 8:
Is Zero a "+ or a -" number? I forgot to ask my algebra professor.
The role of the Courts --> JUSTICE.
The role of Americans and Blogs
--> The TRUTH and the heart and soul of our Country.
Thanks C&L asnd all of these related sites...
For keeping all of us informed...
No wonder people are TURNING off their television sets to get the REAL News.
Too bad we didnt have all of this back in 2000.
Great! The rule of law prevails.
Hey everyone. Just a heads up that The Blue State blog will host a LIVE CHAT during the AFL-CIO Democratic forum. So yap away with other progressives as you watch the forum live on MSNBC. The debate starts at 7 PM ET/4 PM PT. We'd like you all to join us!
http://www.thebluestate.com
sorry, i don't mean to get off course, this goes with my above post about miami and john "my son is a felon" timmoney and the FTAA (free trade area of the americas) protests.
like the RNC in NYC (and in PHL in 2000), this is the future as i see it. if you speak up, speak out or speak against-- your freedom, safety, life and money are all forfeitable to the government. thank god this federal judge (soon to be called an activist judge by the mouthbreeders) is releasing the information. it could be the first step in exposing what our "leaders" created and facilitated.
tom paine just rolled again
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/11/24/1455248
bamboozled @ 10:
I heard that they just sectioned off whole ten block areas and arrested anyone who happened to be in those blocks. Hundreds of commuters on the subway got arrested for merely getting off at the wrong station and walking up to one of these sectioned off areas.
I guess they were under the assumption that only terrorists and dirty fucking hippies use public transportation.
Blue Buddha @ 20:
Demonstrators should carry Guns with Rubber Bullets for excercising their inalienable right of self defense and to protect against false incarceration.
Blue Buddha @ 20:
Hmm just like the Seattle WTO shit. They let the fake anarchists break crap up and riot, while they were arresting peaceful sitdown protesters and working people trying to go home.
jesus h christ do you people think you live in a free country or somethin??
come on this is Amerika
Why don't they have these WTO get togethers in Kansas?
Citizens are allowed to openly carry side arms in Kansas...even in the cities.
What.....scared?
the lengths the junta and their local toadies will go to violate our rights is sickening
And the assholes will really release it? When this information would cause us to lose the Raq War? We're trippin' to think BushCo isn't trippin'.
So.... they're going to protect the identities of the NYPD terrorist agents that tried to create violence. Sounds about par for the course. And here I thought they'd cleaned up the NYPD after Ghoulioni was evicted from the Mayors office.
For weeks before the convention, homeless people started disappearing across midtown. Homelss shelters & soup kitchens were forced to close for weeks beore the event. Thousands were arrested & held in a bus depot all weekend long, & thenw ere released, without ever being charged, which is illegal,...
One of the millions of reasons I left NYC. And why people should be mortified Ghouliani is running.
Police infiltrators would never incite violence would they?
Can you say CONINTELPRO?
JohnnyThief @ 29:
Actually, it's perfectly legal for the police to put someone under arrest for up to 72 hours without charging them with anything. If they were held over a weekend, that's well within the 72 hour window.
It's one of those "gray areas" of law enforcement. The 72 hour rule allows a suspect to be arrested for a crime in order to get a criminal off the street while gathering evidence or coming up with exact charges to apply to the suspect. It has been abused since the 60's to arrest and release protesters or someone who is extremely drunk in jurisdictions that have lax laws against public drunkenness.
The Bush/RNC administration doesn't spy on terrorists, it spies on its political opposition. They haven't arrested or convicted many terrorists, but they have arrested and accused many of their political enemies of terrorism.
Another nail in asshole Rove's coffin.
And yet the "non-partisan" trolls want us to think that we should support a Micheal Bloomberg ticket in '08.
Hmmmm, I think I smell an executive priviledge overreach coming up........ AGAIN...............JD
I smell another Executive Priviliege coming 'round the bend.
Your honor I object! We have the right to know those who are responsible for violating our civil liberties AND you have a responsibility to the public which requires that you release those names - so that these traitors can be removed from their positions as officers.
No, their fear was actually that the public would interpret the documents correctly. This claim is merely an anticipatory public spin on that fact in the event that the judge's decision went against the city.
Big lead story today in the Dallas Morning Nudes was some ball player named Barry Bonds (no relation to James).
Jeannie See @ 37:
That's the sewage treatment trucks.
This country I live in, how do you spell its name again?
You people, honestly,
do you really think that the RNC would have dissenters subjected to surveillance?
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