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Spy cops: Chicago police routinely spied on protesters
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Chicago Sun-Times (One of Chicago's leading newspapers)
Posted: October 4th, 2015
http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/7/71/987812/wat...
The Chicago Police Department has routinely spied on activist groups during the past six years, police records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show including union members, anti-Olympics protesters, anarchists, the Occupy movement, NATO demonstrators and critics of the Chinese government. And it has continued to do so, according to the records ... which the police department fought to withhold. Under the departments rules, cops arent allowed to purposely interfere with people exercising their free-speech rights. In recent years, though, department officials have repeatedly justified spying on protesters by saying they fear they might engage in disorder and civil disobedience. One investigation involving the surveillance of protest groups is still underway, 10 months after it was launched, the records show. The police wont say who is being investigated or discuss the methods being used. Theres something deeply disturbing about monitoring and documenting the exercise of First Amendment rights, says Molly Armour, an attorney who has represented protesters investigated by the police. In July, the Illinois attorney generals office issued an opinion saying worksheets outlining the scope of these investigations are public records under the states Freedom of Information Act. The office ordered the police department to promptly produce unredacted copies of the worksheets. It took nearly two months for the department to comply with the ruling.
Note: Undercover police in New York City have reportedly been spying on Black Lives Matter activists. Does the mention of an unnamed investigation that is "still underway" suggest that Chicago police are doing the same? For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing civil liberties news articles from reliable major media sources.
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