Back when I was young and living in DC, I used to protest a lot. Reagan was in the White House, and, at least back then, that’s what college kids did. (Now, I suppose, the TV is better.) Back then, for the most part, it was nuclear disarmament, apartheid and the funding of secret wars…. Anyway, the word would occasionally travel through our ranks that there were plants in our midst who were going to try to turn things ugly in order to create a pretext for a police crack down. Being young and into conspiracy theories, I believed it. If you’d asked me about it yesterday I might have said it was a silly notion, but, today, I’m not so sure. I just watched footage of an exchange during a recent globalization protest in Quebec in which it’s pretty clear that the individuals advocating violence, in an otherwise peaceful group, were cops trying to pass as protestors. Watch the video — it’s interesting/terrifying stuff. (Then, if you want too find out more, you can check out Harpers, Kos, or Metafilter.)
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Apparently, you weren’t paying attention in COINTELPRO class, Mark. If you’d like something more recent you should talk tot he kind folk at Food Not Bombs or anyone associated with Judi Bari. This has always gone on and has only become more brazen under the current regime (administration, whatev).
Judi Bari
http://www.judibari.org/
A good friend of mine was assaulted by an “under cover” (dressed in black with a mask) DC police officer — sprayed directly in the mouth at point blank with pepper spray — during the first W inaugural, after pointing him out. She got a large settlement from that case.
No evidence they planned to incite anything, but definitely shouldn’t be beating people up for pointing them out …
That’s fucking insane, Scott… Has there been press on your friend’s case?
Looks like the cops are actually admitting it now.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/08/23/police-montebello.html?ref=rss