Universal Right to Assembly and Free Speech...

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Submitted by ka1igu1a on Tue, 2009-06-23 03:13.



From the Statement from the President on Iran

The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

Too bad there isn't a State on the face of the earth which actually recognizes such rights(in the negative sense)...

Here's how the US "stands" with those who actually want to exercise such rights in conjunction. You will be subject to a DHS threat assessment, possibly penetrated by any number of three-letter acronym federal police organs, surrounded by a highly militarized security force, and will likely be cordoned off into a "free speech zone" miles away from the actual event. Eventually, some clever bureaucrat, in these tough fiscal times, is going to come up with the idea to sell corporate sponsorships for these "zones." We await the day of The NexTel Free Speech zone...

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Pgh anticipates the G20

#7201 On Sun, 2009 06 28 13:49 adam ricketson said,

Here in Pittsburgh, we're looking forward to the G20:

Both local dailies have recently run columns characterizing protesters as worthless locals and dangerous outsiders. G20 will merely be a "grand excuse for a riot, a jackass-a-rama, a Woodstock of ratbags," the Post-Gazette's Reg Henry writes. "Among jackasses, the anarchists are the worst type," he concludes, labeling them poseurs.

...

What happens during the G20 summit itself is only part of what activists worry about. While the finance ministers will leave town after a couple of days, the new police tactics are likely here to stay. Once new equipment is bought and new approaches instituted, says Golan, they "remain part of police procedures every day. They get used on civilian populations."

Indeed, says the city's DeMichiei, equipment purchased for the 2006 MLB All-Star game has remained in use on city streets. An armored vehicle, called "The Bear" and purchased for All-Star security, "is used virtually weekly," DeMichiei says. In April, the vehicle drew headlines for being used in the attempted rescue of three downed city police officers during the Stanton Heights shooting. At other times, though, it has drawn complaints from residents: In 2007, neighborhood representatives complained to City Paper that the vehicle's frequent use makes their communities feel like "downtown Beirut."

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G20 meeting is "National Special Security Event,"

#7202 On Sun, 2009 06 28 13:55 adam ricketson said,

The Feds have declared the September G20 meeting in Pittsburgh a ""National Special Security Event":

This week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano named the September gathering of world leaders a "National Special Security Event," or NSSE, making the Secret Service the lead agency for security preparations.

Federal officials have given the designation less than 35 times since 1998, when President Clinton created it as a tool for managing security for major events that require the coordination of potentially dozens of law enforcement agencies.

The local police chief wants to quadruple/quintuple the number of cops in the city -- making it 4,000 total.

 

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