Reports from NY Indymedia

 

ANTI-WAR PROTEST

Feb 12 2003

Appeals Court Again Denies Anti-War March Permit
From the Associated Press: A federal appeals court agreed Wednesday that the city did not violate the First Amendment when it banned anti-war demonstrators from marching near the United Nations next weekend.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it could find no errors in a lower court judge's ruling earlier this week which found the city had acted legally when it permitted a stationary rally for 100,000 people or more but disallowed a march.

Organizers of the rally, scheduled for Saturday, and their lawyers reacted with disappointment. [Read More]

From the Open Newswire: "United for Peace now faces a moment of truth. the powers that be have spoken-- a permit to march will not be granted by legitimate authorities. At the end of the rally, what will you tell people to do? ... Will you say: 'ladies and gentlemen. the rally has now ended. the city has denied us a permit to march. we, however, do not accept this verdict. we must make a stronger statement to protest this war. those who do not wish to commit civil disobedience stay right where you are. the rest of us, we will now march.'" [Read More]

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DISSENT IN PERIL

Feb 12 2003

Federal Judge Lets NYPD Relax Handschu
Two days after a federal appeals court agreed that the city could ban anti-war demonstrators from marching near the United Nations, Federal Judge Charles Haight ruled today to accept a New York Police Department (NYPD) request to relax restrictions on political surveillance in New York City. Since 1985, the Handschu Agreement has stipulated rules for police spying on political groups. Read CNN report.

Meanwhile, Gov. George Pataki yesterday forced an "anti-terrorism" bill through the New York State Senate. According to the New York Times, a hasty vote of 52 to 8 — which came "without a public hearing or even the normal three-day waiting period" — would give local police and prosecutors broad new powers similar to those enjoyed by federal authorities. The bill would also " create several new felonies with stiff sentences." Read NYT coverage.

And rounding out the local-state-federal 1-2-3 punch to New Yorkers' civil liberties, of course, is the Bush sequel to the PATRIOT Act, or as some are calling it, PATRIOT Act II. According to the Center for Public Integrity, the proposed measures give the government "broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic ... law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decreases judicial review and public access to information." Read Feb. 10 report

But in light of reports that, "All municipal and state laws that regulate police spying on domestic groups would become invalid" under PATRIOT II, according to Democracy Now, one wonders why state and local governments are fighting so hard to pass their own extreme surveillance measures. What do you think?

Spying: NYPD Seeks to Free Itself From Handschu Restraints, from Oct. Indypendent
[ Big Brother Arrives: from the Dec. Indypendent | Democracy Now coverage | FAIR: Muted Media Response to Ashcroft's Sneak Attack on Liberties ]

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THE POLITICS OF FEAR

Feb 11 2003

Growing Anti-War Movement = Code Orange Alert
FROM OUR OPEN PUBLISHING NEWSWIRE: "Federal Judge Barbara S. Jones's ruling proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the high alert the White House put up last week is strictly political. With the pen system that the NYPD used for the World Economic Forum protests and also limiting the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza peace demonstration to just 10,000 protesters the NYPD strategy is to string the protest out in a long and narrow line (1 New York Street lane wide) so that there will not be an opportunity for an image of hundreds of thousands of protesters being seen in the domestic international media. Read More
[ Police Dogs on the 4-5-6 Train | Confronting the Empire | Indymedia Readers Discuss Code Orange Alert ]