COINTELPRO lives, locally at least
by digby
Rumors have flown for many years that DC police routinely infiltrate and spy on the frequent protests in the nation’s Capitol. But until now, activists have never been able to identify a specific undercover cop at a protest. Now, after months of piecing together evidence, attorneys Jeffrey Light and Sean Canavan working with United Students Against Sweatshop (USAS) have confirmed that under an assumed name, Metro police officer Nicole Rizzi has participated in USAS protests against companies doing business in Bangladesh who refuse to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh following the death of as many as 1,129 workers in the Rana Plaza factory collapse.
USAS and its lawyers have numerous pieces of evidence placing Rizzi at protests under a pseudonym. District of Columbia Public Employee Information List records obtained by In These Times confirm that Rizzi has been on the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) force since December of 2003.
USAS filed suit on Monday against the District of Columbia seeking an injunction to stop police from spying on the group’s activities.
Ironically, she was unmasked by her obsessive social media presence in which she posted pictures of herself and openly discussed being a police officer. Doh.
I wonder if they infiltrated all the Tea Party protests over the past few years or if it’s just “subversive” hippie events that concern them? It’s always possible I suppose.
The good news is that our federal, state and local governments never spy on Americans in order to quell dissent but rather to deliver us from evil. I feel so much safer knowing that.
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