CIA and NYPD Spying On Protest Groups

Lindsay Beyerstein informs us that the NYPD Billionaires For Bush and the Men (and Women) in Black Bloc during the Republican National Convention. What a waste of taxpayers money.

“Activists are showing a well-organized network made up of anti-Bush sentiment; the mixing of music and political rhetoric indicates sophisticated organizing skills with a specific agenda,” said the report, dated Oct. 9, 2003. “Police departments in above listed areas have been contacted regarding this event.”

More.

Christopher Dunn, the associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, which represents seven of the 1,806 people arrested during the convention, said the Police Department stepped beyond the law in its covert surveillance program.

“The police have no authority to spy on lawful political activity, and this wide-ranging N.Y.P.D. program was wrong and illegal,” Mr. Dunn said. “In the coming weeks, the city will be required to disclose to us many more details about its preconvention surveillance of groups and activists, and many will be shocked by the breadth of the Police Department’s political surveillance operation.”

What is more troubling is the CIA worked with the NYPD to collect intelligence on protest groups. This reeks of the Hoover FBI days of government intrusiveness.