From Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/government-waste-dhs-documents-reveal-widespread-surveillance-occupy-movement
The Department tasked with preventing terrorism spent a lot of time and money monitoring “peaceful activists demonstrations.”
By Steven Hsieh
April 3, 2013
Federal documents reveal the Department of Homeland Security conducted daily monitoring of peaceful Occupy protests and encampments in 2011.
The memos, obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) through FOIA, show that the DHS routinely observed “Occupy-type” protests, including those deemed “peaceful” by federal agents. In 252 pages of department exchanges, agents overwhelmingly report “uneventful,” “peaceful” and “orderly” demonstrations.
The Federal Protective Service, a division of DHS tasked with protecting federal buildings, handled a good portion of the Occupy beat. DHS ordered FPS agents to write “Daily Intelligence Briefings” noting several types of events, including “Peaceful Activist Demonstrations.” One FPS memo on a protest sponsored by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, proposed “To recognize the African slaves used to build Wall Street,” raised no indications that it would “be violent or that protestors will attempt to damage federal property.”
An email exchange shows DHS quickly jumped to see whether its agents were involved in clashes between police and protesters at Occupy Oakland. “Youtube has a lot of videos of the incident last night. Some of those videos show the exterior of the federal buildings but none which I found showed any of our personal,” reads one report.
PCJF says at least one document reveals that DHS conducted “off the books” intelligence gathering on the movement. “This meeting should be finishing up soon and I’ll have access to a non-DHS computer that will allow me to do more looking,” writes a DHS agent regarding the Occupy movement in New England.
Continue reading at: http://www.alternet.org/occupy-wall-street/government-waste-dhs-documents-reveal-widespread-surveillance-occupy-movement
