Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
A division of the Department of Homeland Security spied and kept records on the Occupy Wall Street protests, even when they were peaceful the Huffington Post reports.
More than 250 records obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund show the federal government was keeping close tabs on protesters.
“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,” Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, executive director of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, said in a statement. “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.”
The department was watching demonstrations in Philadelphia, New York City, Chicago, Denver, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis and Tampa, Fla.
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