FBI Spied on Denver Bookstore and Anti-War Protesters, New Documents Reveal
CONTACT: media@aclu.org
ACLU Releases Document Showing FBI Tracked Cars Parked Near
Political
Bookstore
DENVER -- As part of a “domestic terrorism” investigation, the
FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted surveillance of a Denver bookstore on
February 15, 2003 and monitored 40 people who gathered there to carpool to an
anti-war demonstration in Colorado Springs later that day, according to an FBI
report released today by the American Civil Liberties Union of
Colorado.
“This report raises more questions about the
degree to which the FBI is unjustifiably regarding demonstrations and public
dissent as potential terrorism,” said Mark Silverstein, Legal Director of the
ACLU of Colorado. “Why is the FBI conducting surveillance of a bookstore,
monitoring the persons who gather there, and keeping files with lists of license
plate numbers?”
The document, the latest the ACLU obtained in
response to a series of requests under the Freedom of Information Act, reports
that FBI agents spent two hours watching Breakdown Bookstore, counting about 40
persons who gathered there for the anti-war march. The report also
indicates that the FBI recorded the descriptions and license plate numbers of a
dozen cars “in the vicinity” of the now-closed political bookstore, located at
the time in the 1400 block of Ogden Street.
Last December, the ACLU
released a related document indicating that the FBI opened its investigation of
the anti-war march four days earlier, on the basis of announcements the FBI
encountered on the Web sites of the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center and
the Colorado Campaign for Middle East Peace.
According to
that document, the FBI noted that a third group calling itself Revolutionary
Anti War Response (RAWR), which the FBI characterized as “more radical,” also
promoted the anti-war demonstration and announced it would start with the main
group and then conduct a “break out” demonstration at another Colorado Springs
location. The FBI report noted that participants were invited to meet on
the morning of the protest to carpool. In the report, the FBI said it
would “effect surveillance” at the Denver location and relay information to FBI
agents who were working with city police in Colorado
Springs.
Earlier this month, the national ACLU and the ACLU of
Pennsylvania released evidence that the FBI investigated gatherings of the
Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice in Pittsburgh just because the
organization opposed the war in Iraq. Although previously disclosed
documents revealed that the FBI is retaining files on anti-war groups, the
Merton Center documents showed for the first time that the FBI is targeting
these groups based solely on their political views rather than evidence of
criminal activity.
The report released today by the ACLU of
Colorado is available at: www.aclu-co.org/docket/200406/Colo.Springs.antiwar.demo.Feb.2003.pdf
The
related Colorado report released in December is available at www.aclu-co.org/spyfiles/Documents/fbi_co_campaign_middle_east_2-11-03_report.pdf
Additional information about the Merton Center and the FBI’s
surveillance of political groups across the country is available at www.aclu.org/spyfiles