US law enforcement surveilled protests with drones, spy planes
Democrats in the
United States Congress are questioning whether the administration of US
President Donald Trump is improperly spying on Americans after it was revealed
federal agencies used a drone, spy planes and covert techniques to surveil
protests.
"We demand that you cease any and all surveilling of
Americans engaged in peaceful protests," a group of 30 senior legislators
wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and other top US law
enforcement officials.
A litany of domestic surveillance by authorities has emerged
in the wake of largely peaceful protests following the death of George Floyd -
protests that have been met by police with tear gas, rubber bullets and batons
and that have at times turned violent.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) deployed a predator
drone on May 29 over the city of Minneapolis, where Floyd, a Black man, was
killed when a white police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The FBI used a small plane equipped to collect mobile phone location data over
Washington, DC on June 2, according to members of Congress and public reports.
The FBI and US National Guard used a hi-tech RC-26 spy plane
with infrared and electro-optical cameras over Washington, DC, and Las Vegas on
the same day.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration was authorised to
"conduct covert surveillance" of the protests. Attorney General
William Barr told state governors the FBI's network of regional
counterterrorism centres would be used to track protesters.
"Americans should not have to take proactive measures
to protect themselves from government surveillance before engaging in peaceful
demonstration," members of Congress led by Representatives Anna Eshoo and
Bobby Rush said in the letter dated June 9.
The politicians cited the "chilling effect" of the
surveillance and demanded the Trump administration "cease surveilling
peaceful protests immediately and permanently".
Separately, Democratic members of two House committees on
Homeland Security and Intelligence have demanded explanations from Trump
officials.
Attorney General Barr said at a news conference on June 4
that US prosecutors were collecting intelligence from "the FBI and
multiple different sources" about so-called Antifa and
"Boogaloo" violent groups that he said were using the protests to
"exacerbate the violence".
"We categorise those as domestic terrorism
investigations and are actively pursuing them through our joint terrorism task
forces," FBI Director Wray said at the news conference.
DEA agents were "conducting threat assessments"
and sharing "information potential violations of federal law in real
time", acting DEA chief Tim Shea said.
Talking about protests in Washington, DC at the end of May,
the acting head of the CBP said in a tweet: "These protests have devolved
into chaos and acts of domestic terrorism by groups of radicals &
agitators."
Trump and other members of his administration have
characterised the protests not as constitutionally protected free speech but as
criminal acts, going so far as to label events as "domestic
terrorism".
In tweets on Thursday, Trump said "domestic
terrorists" and "anarchists" had taken over Seattle after
protesters occupied and barricaded neighbourhood streets around an abandoned
police precinct near the city's central business district.
More than 10,000 people have been arrested nationwide,
according to a tally by The Associated Press news agency. On widely publicised
advice of privacy advocates, some protesters took steps to protect their data
by switching off their phones' antennae.
In recent years, the US government has used a variety of new
technologies to surveil Americans, including facial recognition technology and
automated licence plate readers as well as "stingrays" that mimic
cell towers to collect location, call, text and browsing data from peoples'
smartphones.
"Although it can often take months or years to unearth
law enforcement use of powerful surveillance tools to monitor protesters, some
activities have already come to light," Jake Laperruque, a lawyer for the
Project on Government Oversight (POGO), wrote on the non-profit organisation's
website.
POGO was first to publicise the Trump administration's use
of drones and spy planes - developed for military use - to surveil the
protests.
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