[CIMC-work] Fw: [ANSWER]: Police Spying Operation Exposed

[nscchicago]

Tom Baker here. Sorry for duplications. FYI

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R." <answer.general at action-mail.org>
To: <answer.general at action-mail.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2003 2:38 PM
Subject: [ANSWER]: Police Spying Operation Exposed


> POLICE SPYING OPERATION EXPOSED
> 
> The lead editorial in the December 17 Washington Post, 
> commenting on a public D.C. City Council investigation 
> into police spying, brutality and pre-emptive arrests 
> against demonstrators, is evidence that the national 
> campaign to defend the First Amendment is effectively 
> striking back at the war waged today by various law 
> enforcement agencies against dissent in the United States.
> 
> Citing the litigation brought by the Washington D.C.-based 
> Partnership for Civil Justice (International Action 
> Center, et al., v. The United States, et al.) the Post 
> Editorial opens with an excerpt from July 10, 2003, ruling 
> by U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler:
> 
> "The District of Colombia, through [assistant police chief 
> Alfred Broadbent] seems to be admitting that it maintains 
> widespread, extensive spying operations on the activities 
> and operations of political advocacy organizations, such 
> as Plaintiffs [International Action Center, et al.], on 
> the basis of their political philosophies and conduct 
> protected under the First Amendment. Moreover, Chief 
> Broadbent admitted in his testimony that such operations 
> are carried on even in the absence of allegations of 
> criminal activities by the organizations being spied 
> upon." The Post editorial goes on to cite three other 
> major protest cases being handled by the Partnership for 
> Civil Justice.
> 
> The Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), 
> along with the FBI, Secret Service and National Park 
> Police, have been the subject of a broad-based legal and 
> political action campaign to win justice for those who 
> have been the victims of police misconduct.
> 
> The Partnership for Civil Justice (PCJ) has filed four 
> major lawsuits in Washington DC in the past three years 
> that have uncovered a body of evidence showing that law 
> enforcement agencies have been engaged in systematic and 
> coordinated efforts to spy on and disrupt political 
> organizations engaged in First Amendment protected 
> activities. Evidence obtained in the discovery phase of 
> litigation also includes police undercover operatives 
> engaged in violent assaults against peaceful demonstrators 
> protesting against George W. Bush during the January 20, 
> 2001 Inaugural Parade. (For more information on the 
> lawsuits go to http://www.justiceonline.org)
> 
> In the last few weeks more than 20,000 organizations and 
> individuals have signed on to a petition opposing the 
> FBI's illegal spying operation against the U.S. antiwar 
> movement. The FBI operation was revealed in an internal 
> FBI memorandum, written ten days before the October 25 
> demonstration in Washington DC that demanded Bring the 
> Troops Home Now, End the Occupation of Iraq, that was the 
> subject of a New York Times story on November 23. To see 
> the petition go http://www.votenowar.org or 
> http://www.internationalanswer.org
> 
> As the spotlight on police and law enforcement misconduct 
> gets brighter as a result of the litigation and political 
> action campaigns, elected officials in Washington D.C. 
> have scheduled two days of hearings to scrutinize the 
> police department in the District of Columbia.
> 
> The following is the statement of Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, 
> given on behalf of the Partnership for Civil Justice and 
> National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee on December 
> 17, 2003, at the Public Oversight Hearing on Current 
> Policies and Practices of the MPD Related to 
> Demonstrations, Committee on the Judiciary, District of 
> Columbia Council.
> 
> * * * * * * * * * *
> 
> STATEMENT OF MARA VERHEYDEN-HILLIARD
> On Behalf of the Partnership for Civil Justice and 
> National Lawyers Guild Mass Defense Committee
> December 17, 2003
> Public Oversight Hearing
> On Current Policies and Practices of the MPD Related to 
> Demonstrations
> Committee on the Judiciary
> District of Columbia Council
> 
> Litigation by the Partnership for Civil Justice (PCJ) over 
> more than a three year stretch has uncovered systematic 
> police abuse of demonstrators and revealed that the 
> District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) 
> is engaged in an ongoing illegal domestic spying operation 
> on political activists and that it has used undercover 
> agent provocateurs to commit felonious assaults against 
> peaceful demonstrators.
> 
> Today's hearing will include dramatic video footage of MPD 
> undercover police officers carrying out violent assaults 
> against protestors at the Inauguration of George Bush. 
> This footage was obtained by and is in the possession of 
> the Partnership for Civil Justice,  which is litigating on 
> behalf of activists who were assaulted.
> 
> The illegal conduct carried out by the MPD - which was 
> exposed in the litigation filed by the Partnership for 
> Civil Justice and the National Lawyers Guild - is just the 
> tip of the iceberg regarding law enforcement's illegal 
> violation of the First and Fourth Amendments. It is not 
> only the MPD but the U.S. Secret Service, FBI and National 
> Park Police, in cooperation and coordination with the MPD, 
> that have waged a war against dissent in Washington, D.C.
> 
> We salute Councilmember Kathy Patterson for holding these 
> hearings. It is evidence that elected leaders can be 
> responsive to the rising people's movement in the United 
> States that is using both street demonstrations and legal 
> action to push back the government to a constitutional 
> line and to defend free speech rights.
> 
> The purpose of the lawsuits is to win justice for those 
> whose rights have been violated, and it is also to ensure 
> accountability by police and law enforcement officials. 
> MPD Chief Charles Ramsey, Mayor Anthony Williams and other 
> officials have made the avoidance of accountability a 
> primary focus of their conduct after the egregious 
> violations of demonstrators' rights in episode after 
> episode in the District of Columbia. This is evidenced in 
> their public conduct as well as when the Chief testified 
> under oath in a recent deposition conducted by the 
> Partnership for Civil Justice.
> 
> The police department and Mayor of Washington have 
> ratified the shocking and illegal conduct of law 
> enforcement both by word and by deed. They have repeated 
> their illegal tactics time and time again. It has only 
> been through the litigation by activists that the truth of 
> these unconstitutional actions has been brought to light. 
> As we fight for justice in the Courts, we again thank the 
> Council for providing public forum and for using its 
> authority to oversee the police department to also seek 
> accountability and change on behalf of the people of 
> Washington, D.C. and the people of the United States who 
> come to Washington, D.C. to exercise their First Amendment 
> rights.
> 
> The Partnership for Civil Justice's First Amendment 
> litigation on behalf of demonstrators in Washington DC 
> includes:
> 
> Alliance for Global Justice, et al v. District of 
> Columbia, et al
> - IMF/World Bank Demonstrations in April 2000
> - Includes class action claim for mass arrest of over 700 
> lawful protestors in advance of days of protests, 
> calculated as a preemptive political sweep to take 
> activists off the streets; the illegal raid, seizure and 
> closure of the convergence center; confiscation of 
> political literature; brutal beatings of peaceful 
> activists.
> 
> International Action Center, et al v. United States of 
> America, et al
> - Counter Inaugural Protests against George W. Bush in 
> January 2001
> - Violent assaults by MPD agents provocateurs; detention 
> of protestors and splintering of groups and assemblies by 
> the Civil Disturbance Units (CDUs); infiltration and 
> domestic spying by the MPD posing as activists; joint 
> unconstitutional action with the Bush-Cheney Inaugural 
> Committee and federal government to deny access to the 
> parade route.
> 
> Bolger, et al v. Ramsey, et al
> - Antiwar demonstrations in April 2002
> - Arrest based on political ideology, targeting 
> anarchists, or persons perceived by their manner of dress 
> to be or to associate with anarchists in the absence of 
> any criminal activity.
> 
> Barham, et al v. Ramsey, et al
> - Anti-war and IMF/World Bank Demonstrations in September 
> 2002
> - Class action certification. Rounding up and jailing over 
> 400 people, including activists, legal observers and 
> passers-by, in advance of weekend of planned protests 
> against corporate globalization and war against Iraq that 
> was calculated to take political activists off the streets 
> and disrupt their ability to assemble and advocate for 
> change in U.S. policy.
> 
> upcoming litigation:
> April 12, 2003
> - police beating of peaceful demonstrators at anti-war 
> march including the filmed beating of a protester while 
> held down by police officers.
> 
> Partnership for Civil Justice
> http://www.justiceonline.org
> 
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