Department of Homeland Security Monitors Peaceful Protests

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The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) obtained government documents using the FOIA records request that show the Department of Homeland Security monitors peaceful, lawful protests on a daily basis as part of policy, according to PCJF.

The documents show that the DHS “Threat Management Division” directed Regional Intelligence Analysts to issue a “Daily Intelligence Briefing” that involves reporting on “Peaceful Activist Demonstrations” as well as “Domestic Terrorist Activity.”

  

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Surveillance of protests occurred in the following cities: Asheville, NC; Tampa; Ft. Lauderdale; Jacksonville; Lansing, MI; Denver; Kansas City; Los Angeles; Boston; Dallas; Houston; Minneapolis; Miami; Jersey City; Phoenix; Lincoln, Nebraska; Chicago; Salt Lake City; Detroit and others.

“This production of documents, like the FBI documents that the PCJF received in December 2012, is a window into the nationwide scope of DHS and FBI surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement. Taken together, the two sets of documents paint a disturbing picture of federal law enforcement agencies using their vast power in a systematic effort to surveil and disrupt peaceful demonstrations. The federal agencies’ actions were not because Occupy represented a ‘terrorist threat’ or a ‘criminal threat’ but rather because it posed a significant grassroots political challenge to the status quo,” stated Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the PCJF.

“The documents are heavily redacted and represent, we believe, a fraction of what the government possesses. But these documents show that federal and local law enforcement agencies, in concert with the biggest banks on Wall Street and elsewhere in the country, conducted a massive spying program and a large-scale disruption operation against the Occupy movement.” stated Carl Messineo, Legal Director of the PCJF.