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The FBI defended its decision to monitor the Occupy movement in Northern California, saying it “respects liberty and privacy and avoids unnecessary intrusions into the lives of law-abiding people,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union brought the surveillance to light under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
“Why does a political protest amount to a national security threat?” ACLU attorney Linda Lye asked Monday.
According to the documents, the FBI kept surveillance on a November protest at the Port of Oakland, which protestors succeeded in closing, the Chronicle reported.