[credit: Aislin, Montreal Gazette]
Update: The National Lawyers Guild has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for all information the federal law enforcement agencies have concerning the orchestrated response to peaceful Occupy encampments by riot-equipped police. Defense lawyers have asked for expedited treatment of the request for information. An answer from the agencies should be forthcoming within twenty days, unless the agencies withhold the information on ground of "national security". Would that be ironic or what?{18.11.11}Despite beatings, midnight raids, tear gas, rubber bullets, percussion grenades, and mass arrests the 99% alliance is not giving up. The similarity in police tactics against the overwhelmingly peaceful protesters and the legal pretexts employed to justify the use of force indicates there is some coordination among local officials. There was at least one conference call among 18 city mayors and leaders from as many as forty cities confirmed by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan in a radio interview. A Quan legal adviser resigned in disgust after Oakland police and law thugs from surrounding jurisdictions drove out occupiers with brutality in the early hours of November 14th. Quan says the phone conference took place while she was in Washington DC. Shortly thereafter on October 25th she authorized the first forceful eviction of Occupy Oakland. The mayor's former adviser strongly suspects the recently established federal anti-terror "fusion centers" are involved, especially after the protesters shut down the Port of Oakland for a day. The Port is no doubt considered to be a national security site by federal officials. The centers were created after analysis of the terror attacks showed a lack of coordination and information sharing between and among the many national, state and local layers of law enforcement apparatus in Amerika. Homeland Secretary Napolitano said in Kansas City in 2009, that "we know that it's not just the 9/11 type incidents but many, many other types of incidents that can benefit from having fusion centers that share information and product and analysis upwards and horizontally", One of those "types of incidents" is surely domestic civil unrest and mass protest. So in the post 9/11 world, the legitimate exercise of constitutionally protected rights of free speech and assembly are categorized as a national security threat by an increasingly secretive, reactionary and authoritarian national government. Lawyers representing the protesters agree there is no legal justification for anti-terror forces to be used against legitimate, peaceful citizen protesters.The Cop-in-Chief has a lot of explaining to do if federal anti-terror resources are being used to supress a peaceful protest movement against the Plutocracy.