American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 8 May 2003, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK-- Taking their cue from the Bush Administration, law enforcement officials across the country have interrogated, detained and prosecuted hundreds of people for
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 8 May 2003, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK– Taking their cue from the Bush Administration, law enforcement officials
across the country have interrogated, detained and prosecuted hundreds of people for
exercising their First Amendment freedoms of speech and assembly, according to a new
report by the American Civil Liberties Union on the suppression of dissent since the terrorist
attacks of 9/11.
“This report clearly illustrates how dangerous it has become since the terrorist attacks of
September 11 to criticize the President of the United States or his policies,” said Anthony
D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “Government officials and political leaders
must not be allowed to chill the free and robust debate that has made the American way of
life the envy of nations and its Constitution a beacon to the world.”
“Freedom Under Fire: Dissent in Post-9/11 America,” describes how some government
officials, including local police, have gone to extraordinary lengths to squelch dissent
wherever it has sprung up, drawing on a breathtaking array of tactics – from censorship and
surveillance to detention, denial of due process and excessive force.
The 18-page report finds that dissent since 9/11 has taken three principal forms: mass
protests and rallies, messages on signs or clothing, and other acts of defiance by
communities and individuals. These have ranged from silent vigils in parks to the passage of
resolutions in more than 100 communities across the country protesting federal measures
that violate civil liberties.
Police have beaten and maced protestors in Missouri, charged on horseback into crowds of
demonstrators in New York, fired on demonstrators in California, and helped FBI agents to
spy on professors and students at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, the ACLU
report said.
Attorney General Ashcroft’s Justice Department has further asserted the right to seize
protesters’ assets and deport immigrants under anti-terrorism statutes rushed through
Congress after the attacks, and debated whether to revoke U.S. citizenship in some cases.
Some of the most stunning abuses – such as the compilation of political profiles of peaceful
demonstrators by police in New York – did not come to light until they were exposed and
challenged by the ACLU.
The ACLU report also makes clear that ours is not the first generation to face such
challenges, with historical comparisons to government suppression of dissent from 1920
through the Vietnam era. These included the “scapegoating” of immigrant communities at the
end of World War I, when labor strikes turned violent, leading to mass arrests and
deportations on orders from then-Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer.
Also documented in the report are the actions taken by ACLU affiliates like the New York
Civil Liberties Union to monitor the actions of police during the anti-Vietnam War rallies of
the 1960s and 70s, when mass arrests were taking place and the civil liberties of peaceful
demonstrators were
being violated.
The ACLU’s report is available online at: Dissent report