NY police spied on anti-Bush protesters

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Monday March 26, 2007
The Guardian


Undercover New York police officers spent more than a year spying on would-be protesters ahead of the 2004 Republican national convention, monitoring church groups and street theatre troupes which had no intention of breaking the law, it was reported yesterday.
The scope of the inquiry ... - ... long suspected by activists ... - ... saw officers infiltrating groups opposed to George Bush, or monitoring their activities in web chat rooms, and filing daily reports on their activities, the New York Times reported.

Although the ostensible mission of the Republican National Convention Intelligence squad was to identify the potential for violence at the August 2004 convention, the investigation quickly spiralled into surveillance of environmentalists, anti-war groups, and even three local elected officials.
It also spread to events in cities hundreds of miles away or months ahead of the convention, such as a group of concerts in October 2003 by Bands against Bush. The newspaper said that the majority of those who came under scrutiny had no intention of breaking the law.

Such surveillance was made possible by the atmosphere after 9/11 which saw a strengthening of the intelligence apparatus, and a greater willingness to use those resources. The presence of Mr Bush and top Republicans in a Democratic city had fuelled fears about an attack, and about managing protesters. It led to tight security at the convention and more than 1,800 arrests.

The surveillance targets even included street theatre performers such as Billionaires for Bush.

"It was a running joke that some of the new faces were 25- to 32-year-old males asking, 'First name, last name?' " Marco Ceglie, of Billionaires for Bush, said. "Some people didn't care; it bothered me and a couple of other leaders, but we didn't want to make a big stink because we didn't want to look paranoid."