More than a dozen computers seized in questionable search
*Berkeley, CA* — At 10:30 am on Wednesday, August 27th, the UC Berkeley police, plainclothes FBI agents, and an Alameda County sheriff raided at gunpoint the Long Haul, a long-standing community library and info shop. Police spent at least an hour and a half searching the premises without allowing Long Haul members entry to their building. More than a dozen computers and other equipment were seized in the morning raid. Having made no attempt to contact Long Haul members, agents forced their way into the building by entering a neighboring non-profit office with guns drawn. Police refused to provide a search warrant until after the raid was over and property was seized.
“This is an outrageous abuse of authority by the federal government,” said TKTK, a member of the Long Haul. “What cause could the police have to come into a community center like the Long Haul and seize information belonging to the people of Berkeley? They must return our property immediately.” The police went through every room, both public and locked - cutting or unscrewing the locks - and removed every computer from the building. Most of the computers taken were removed from an un-monitored public space where people come to use the computers just as they would at a public library. The remaining computers were taken from closed offices where they are needed for the day-to-day operation of the work done by members. Offices were rifled through, and a list of people who had borrowed books from the library was checked, as was the sales log. The warrant, which was produced after the raid, had little relevant information (claiming the officers were searching for 1 - Property or things used as a means of committing a felony; 2 - Property or things that are evidence that tends to show a felony has been committed, or tends to show that a particular person has committed a felony).
The Long Haul has been a community resource for 25 years, offering accessible meeting space to radical groups, access to alternative magazines and journals, a lending library and a historical archive of independent media. Long Haul also produces the well-known slingshot organizer pocket calendar. Multiple groups have met and continue to meet there as one of the few remaining inexpensive radical venues in the increasingly gentrified bay area. The same pattern of abuse was experienced recently when the convergence space for protesters against the Democratic National Convention in Denver was raided and supplies seized. Since the Long Haul raid occurred, lawyers have been working to seek the immediate return of the seized property, though the Long Haul continues to welcome legal support. The Long Haul is also in urgent need of computers to replace what was taken, while the fight continues to get the hard drives returned.
Long Haul members have vowed to protest this latest act of political repression. Check the Long Haul website (www.thelonghaul.org <
http://www.thelonghaul.org/>) for more information as it becomes available.
http://thelonghaul.org/?p=12-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting
...Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies said they were executing a search warrant, but would not show a copy of the warrant to lawyers or reporters. More than a dozen police vehicles , almost all unmarked, and more than 20 sheriff’s deputies and St. Paul police arrived at the building about 9:45 Friday night and were still there at 1 a.m., when I left.
After handcuffing the people in the building (occupants said there were about two dozen on the second floor and “about 40 or 50” on the first floor), police processed them one by one. Each person was asked for identification, name and address, and then photographed.
People who had been inside the building told similar stories of police entering with guns drawn. They said police rushed past the security desk on the first floor, and used a battering ram to crash through the second floor back door.
“They said if you don’t show us ID and get your picture taken, we will arrest you and take you away,” said Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, who had arrived five or ten minutes before the raid began, planning to attend a meeting. “They never said what the basis for arrests would be. We were waiting for a meeting, for God’s sake! I cannot tell you how much like a police state that felt to me.”
After each person was released after being photographed, exiting the building and crossing between police cars to a crowd of cheering friends on the sidewalk across from the building. No one was arrested, but sheriff’s deputies remained inside the building.
Eventually, a city contractor arrived to board up the building, allegedly for unspecified code violations.
“This isn’t the way we do things in St. Paul.” City Council member Dave Thune
St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune said he was trying to find out who ordered the building locked up and on what grounds. “This isn’t the way we do things in St. Paul,” Thune said. “I don’t want the city to get sucked into something that the sheriff’s office is concocting.”
Thune said that someone had called in the city contractor and ordered him to secure the building, but this was not done according ot St. Paul city procedures.
“Normally,” said Thune, “we only board up buildings that are vacant and ramshackle. The fire inspector has no idea what’s going on. He hadn’t been called. The person who is on 24/7 call was not called. I talked to him trying to fid out who did issue that order and why.”
The building at 827 Smith Avenue had been rented by the RNC Welcoming Committee as a “convergence space,” open to activists for meetings, eating, and just hanging out. Earlier in the week, a large downstairs room in the former theater held tables of literature and about a dozen computers, set up for free wi-fi access for visitors. Large maps showed downtown St. Paul streets. The kitchen was spotless, with stainless steel refrigerators and a gas range, looking like a commercial kitchen in a church basement. The second floor room, where Sammy and her family were watching a video on consumerism Friday night, had comfortable theater seats and space for meetings.
Search warrant: from soap flakes and X boxes to Molotov cocktails
A young man who would not give his name said that many people had asked to see the search warrant. After “what seemed like a long time,” someone was allowed to read the warrant aloud. His recollection, affirmed by at least two others, was that the warrant was very long and listed many items, including soap flakes, X boxes, paint, computer operating support manuals, caltrops, bleach, floppy disks with digital information, Molotov cocktails and many other items.
Dave Thune reported that sheriff’s deputies hauled out literature and other items in boxes. Literature available in the Convergence Center earlier in the week included “The Struggle is Our Inheritance: A History of Radical Minnesota,” “Anarchy: A Pamphlet,” “a guide to 2008 antiRNC organizing,” and “Need to Know Basics: Coldsnap Legal Collective’s Minnesota Legal Primer for the RNC.”
Police loaded confiscated items into a police vehicle.
The activists had studied their legal rights, and said they repeated asked to see the search warrant, said they did not consent to searches, and asked to see their lawyers. At least one person on the second floor managed to dial a number for the National Lawyer’s Guild (NLG) as the police burst through the door. Though NLG lawyers arrived on the scene early, they were not allowed to enter the building and no one in the building was allowed access to lawyers.
“Here we are in this country trying to fight terrorism,” said one activist, “and I experience it — a gun in my face!”
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/30/police-break-down-doors-night-time-raid-anarchist-meeting.html
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