Police Protesters

An article in the NY Times raises troubling instances of police instigating violence at political protests, in the guise of protecting national security. The activities have primarily affected anti-war rallies, protests of the Republican National Committee meetings and Critical Mass. The police have, in the past, been subjected to stringent regulations under which there investigations of this kind are conducted:

"It was to remedy what was a very egregious violation of people's First Amendment rights to free speech and assemble," said Jeremy Travis, the deputy police commissioner for legal affairs from 1990 to 1994.

In the past, the investigations have been triggered by injury to the public. In this case there are some probably incidents in which there has been provocation by undecover police agents that have created disturbances that may not have occurred, or were hastened by undercover agents:

eyond collecting information, some of the undercover officers or their associates are seen on the tape having influence on events. At a demonstration last year during the Republican National Convention, the sham arrest of a man secretly working with the police led to a bruising confrontation between officers in riot gear and bystanders.

This raises serious doubts about whether, despite prior judicial restraint, the police are respecting Americans' right to freely assemble, a right given in the Bill of Rights. While the particulars are confined to New York City, have other cities undertaken similar operations. Here in Portland, Oregon, where there have been violent confrontations between Bush protesters and police (culminating in the partially inadvertant pepper-spraying of an infant), it is in the public's interest whether the police were involved in inciting the protesters while posing as protesters themselves.