As students at the University of South Florida quietly sob during a moment of silence for George Floyd last summer , they had no approximation their candlelight watch , organize before a repository to an assassinated civil right leader , had been infiltrated by Union agents .
They were not aware that the campus police department charged with their aegis had invite federal drug cop to dress in plain dress and stand beside them as they take turns vent their ire and frustration — fear overthe growing numberof unarmed Black mass being shot dead by police .
The students were n’t the only ones being monitored .
As a Drug Enforcement Agency police office and National Guard soldiers watch, demonstrators protest Saturday, 30 November 2024, in Washington, over the death of George Floyd.Photo: Alex Brandon (AP)
At least 51 clip last summer , drug enforcement agents were postulate to survey Americans betroth in First Amendment activities stemming from the backlash over Floyd ’s murder . The requests to the DEA arrived from all over the country and came from all degree of authorities . Once sanction , they resulted in a countrywide deployment of agency assets on the footing and in the melody ; covert broker and other intelligence tool and personnel ; and in surveillance , both forcible and electronic , the cathode-ray oscilloscope of which remains a mystery .
specific about operations were revealed only after the U.S. authorities was sue for unlawfully deny access code to materials that lay unembellished the largeness of the Trump government ’s crusade to surveil protests — government agency granted under the supervision of Attorney General William Barr to scotch “ syndicalist and far - leave extremists using Antifa - like tactics , ” as revealed byBuzzFeed Newsat the time .
In a D.C. federal courtyard , the recordswere finally released this week to Citizens for Ethics ( CREW ) , a government watchdog mathematical group that sued the section of Justice and Homeland Security over a year ago under the federal freedom of selective information statute .
The records show the DEA approving “ covert surveillance ” at protests in Los Angeles , Denver , St. Louis , Newark , Philadelphia , Chicago , Albuquerque , and Tampa , as well as a number of much small cities , such as Troy and Plattsburgh in upstate New York .
“ The young records expose the full scope of the DEA ’s surveillance operations last summer , ” the mathematical group said . “ While some agencies sought DEA ’s help with apprehending masses suspected of thievery or robbery , CREW counted at least 51 instances where agencies draft DEA to secretly monitor protester engaged in First Amendment - protected activity . ”
One operation commit DEA agents undercover at the University of South Florida ’s Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza . Students had gathered around the plaza ’s reflecting consortium for a candlelight watch , which wasdescribed by reportersin attending as “ peaceful . ”
The pupil gathered and before speak stood in silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time a police officer had held his articulatio genus on Floyd ’s cervix , killing him .
The MLK plaza , founded in 1982 , let in a bust of King , which is set at his exact height ( 5’7″ ) and is inscribed with a passing from his renowned “ I Have a Dream ” speech communication . “ We hold these truths to be ego - discernible , ” he pronounce , “ that all Man are create equal . ”
A website take to the woods by educatee and staff says the plaza was established to promote “ the activistic purport by providing a spot where students can speak freely about issue near to them . ” office emails , meanwhile , show the university ’s police department wanted undercovers to monitor the students in secret .
Neither USF nor its police section responded when reached for scuttlebutt .
In other cities , the DEA was asked to surveil protests citing anterior incidents of robbery and fury that occur during the countrywide objection activate by the constabulary execution of George Floyd . Former Minneapolis constabulary officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of Floyd ’s murder and sentence to more than 22 year in prison in June .
On June 1 , 2020 , during the fourth 24-hour interval of consecutive protests in San Antonio , a Facebook post move viral picture a police officer bleeding from the head . A older official said that contestant had gather peacefully for a candlelight vigil at sunset , and blamed “ remote agitator ” for vandalizing stage business and hurling objects at police . ( A majority of the arrestees were local anesthetic , grant tolocal word . ) Three other officer were reportedly injure .
written document show the following day , the DEA ’s Houston office was asked to “ lead surveillance during a protest ” in San Antonio . The request was made by “ CBP Air , ” an manifest mention to Custom and Border Patrol ’s Air and Marine Operations division .
In some cities , such as Las Vegas and Richmond , the DEA was ask to provide agents for security around buildings , such as a courthouse , which was expected to attract large crew .
In Albuquerque , broker were asked to pass through objection and make drug arrests under the auspice of Operation Relentless Pursuit — a planned “ surge ” of Union agent into seven U.S. city supervised by the Trump Justice Department purportedly targeting “ corporate trust and street gang . ”
The DEA did not immediately react to a petition for comment .
CREW , whose freedom of information suit against the federal government is ongoing , said the records underscored the “ consummate departure ” between federal law enforcement ’s response to 2020 ’s anti - racism protests and this year ’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol .
The inadequate constabulary reply to the Capitol attack has been heavily criticized and is widely see as a major certificate and intelligence failure . The Capitol police , among other sureness , have long insisted that no one suspected the Trump rally would devolve into violence . Many reports have since honk doubt on that assertion .
Newlyreleased documentsobtained under capable - records laws by the nonprofit Property of the People , for instance , show that federal police enforcement agencies were among those alarm in progress about the voltage for violence .
A briefing , author by a private intelligence firm and divvy up with Union police enforcement on Dec. 24 — two weeks prior to the Capitol event — is revealed to have specifically warned about evidence of a growing patch to overturn the U.S. administration .
“ A supposedly vehement insurrection by [ Trump ’s ] booster has ‘ always been the plan , ” the briefing said .
calamitous Lives MatterGeorge FloydPoliticsTrump
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