An Open Letter to Every Occupy Supporter
Brent, Brian, Jared, Sebastian, and Mark's arrests weren’t an attempt to catch “violent anarchists” that were going to smash private property and harass businessmen in suits. The arrests were simply a tool to scare away crowds from protesting the war machine.
Unlawful arrests have long been used to quell dissent. In 2003, 800 people were unlawfully arrested during an antiwar march, and the city of Chicago settled, giving $12 million taxpayer dollars to those unlawfully detained. Twelve million dollars wasted while the city shutters schools, mental health clinics, libraries, and other services. Confidential informants were sent to infiltrate peaceful activism groups, to attempt to entrap individuals. Why would the city do this? The answer is clear: to justify spending money on weapons and personnel, to justify its increasing repression of dissent without raising the ire of the average citizen—after all, with these unlawful raids, detentions, arrests, and prosecution, the government is supposedly "protecting” the public from the “violent anarchists.”
According to the National Lawyer’s Guild’s report, The Policing of Political Speech: Constraints on Mass Dissent, in the U.S. most allegations against protesters are proven false after the fact.
“Time and time again, millions of dollars have been obtained by the police departments for personnel and equipment at large events, justified by confidential informant testimony that large numbers of ‘anarchists’ are planning to attend and engage in violence. Closer examination of the facts often reveals the falsity of such allegations: numerous police informants, many with criminal backgrounds, admit when later questioned that activist groups they infiltrated never planned any violent activities. Indeed, millions more have been spent paying damages to the demonstrators victimized by these tactics.” (http://www.nlg.org/wp-content/files_flutter/1286308219bodyfinal.pdf)
http://occupywallst.org/article/open-letter-every-occupy-supporter/