FBI detains and interrogates trespassers on their party affiliation. Again. This time on video.
The FBI did the same thing to NYC protesters at the Republican convention in 2004.
If you don't object due to the rights violations, object for the waste of FBI resources and your Homeland Security tax dollars.
* * * *
Similar intelligence-gathering operations have been reported in New York, where a local police intelligence unit tried to infiltrate groups planning to protest at the Republican National Convention in 2004, and in Colorado, where records surfaced showing that the FBI collected names and license plates of people protesting timber industry practices at a 2002 industry convention.
Several federal courts have ruled that intelligence agencies can monitor domestic groups only when there is reason to believe the group is engaged in criminal activity. Experts in police conduct say it is hard to imagine how asking questions about a person's political views would be appropriate in a trespassing case.
The Washington case centers on activities that took place April 20, 2002 -- a day of three cacophonic but generally orderly rallies that drew an estimated 75,000 people to the Mall. They included groups demonstrating against the prospect of war in Iraq, numerous supporters of the war, and Palestinians and others rallying for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and for peace in the Middle East.
I'll ask if anyone agrees -- let's take Hoover's name off the FBI building and put Reagan's on it (I'm just doing this for political support from the right); I'd vote for that. :)
I'm serious about the first paragraph, however.
"Ohmygod, there's an agnostic! Round 'em up."