BEWARE AND BE ALERT! A Joint Statement by Caaav: Organizing Asian Communities , DRUM - Desis Rising Up & Moving , and MXGM - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement on NYPD Surveillance of Protests As organizations that have worked on police accountability for years, and work with communities that that have been surveilled by the NYPD for being Black, Muslim, or for their political activities, we were alarmed to see the presence of two NYPD Counterterrorism officers at a protest that CAAAV and DRUM jointly organized this past Sunday at Rego Center Mall in Queens. The unannounced protest was designed to bring a discussion of the Ferguson and Garner verdicts deeper within into our neighborhoods, and the officers appeared almost 30minutes after the start of the event. Since then, we also received confirmations that similar counterterrorism officers were spotted at the large march on Saturday. Their presence at a peaceful protest raises some disturbing questions. Why are counterterrorism officers needed at a relatively small protest of about a 100 people? Are protests considered a form of or potential for terrorism? What is being done with the information being collected by these officers? In all the reports we received, the officers have been spotted when protests were taking place at or near commercial centers. Is disrupting shopping being considered as a form of terrorism by the NYPD? Given the history of NYPD (and recently Oakland Police among others), infiltrating protests and inciting people, entrapping them, and then prosecuting them, we can safely assume that along with these uniformed officers, there are undercover officers trying to do the same in this moment of heightened activity. We urge all people involved in mobilizing and organizing in this period to be on alert. Document the presence of such uniformed officers, and be on alert for undercover officers that may try to incite people. We know that such incitement and entrapment are intended to legitimize and hurt the movements that we are building. In Unity & Struggle!
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 19:01:03 +0000
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