For almost 2 years, the Miami Police Department has desperately been trying to ensure that the 2003 FTAA police operations plan remains a secret, even from the city's own Civilian Investigative Panel which is charged with investigating the large scale police brutality that took place on November 20-21, 2003. MPD has finally revealed it's reasoning for the secrecy: releasing the plan could "jeopardize future operations nationwide" because "authorities THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY have adopted the plan". This is a stunning, yet frightening admission, as it confirms the deep suspicions of political activists who have personally witnessed the same repressive tactics travel from city to city, protest to protest. This also lends further support to the ominous statements made earlier by Miami Police Chief John Timoney, that the FTAA was "the first big event for Homeland Security...the first real realistic run-through to see how it would work."

Police get rowdy at a Halliburton protest in Houston, TX on Wednesday, May 18th. At least two indymedia videographer were arrested as police used horses to trample and harm protesters outside Halliburton's annual shareholders meeting. Inside, police used "pain compliance" techniques to arrest people doing peaceful civil disobedience.

San Francisco, CA. - The jury has just returned a unanimous verdict for the activists/plaintiffs, finding the County of Humboldt and City of Eureka liable for excessive force used by Humboldt County Sheriff's Deputies and Eureka Police Officers when they applied pepper spray directly to the eyes of the eight nonviolent forest defense protesters in three incidents in 1997. Former sheriff Dennis Lewis and present sheriff Gary Philp also were found liable for causing the use of excessive force by ordering the unprecedented use of pepper spray on the passive, locked together sit-in demonstrators.

The jury awarded nominal damages of $1 to each of the plaintiffs, who made it clear all along that they weren't suing for the money, but to bring about a change of policy, to stop the use of pepper spray in Humboldt in the way it was used on them. A 2003 settlement offer by the activists, who felt vindicated after their trip to the Court of Appeals, contained similar terms to the outcome of this lawsuit; law enforcement will be deterred from applying pepper spray directly to the eyes of peaceful people, and Humboldt County and City of Eureka will owe for attorneys fees that may reach over a million dollars following two additional jury trials.

Attorneys for the pepper spray Plaintiffs, Dennis Cunningham, J. Tony Serra, Bob Bloom, Ben Rosenfeld and Bill Simpich, made up part of the award winning legal team that beat the FBI in 2002 on behalf of Earth First! Organizer Judi Bari, who was the victim of a car bomb assassination attempt in 1990, which was covered up by the FBI and Oakland Police.

On Friday, police arrested 37 riders and confiscated dozens of bicylcles. Last week, the city filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the group TIME'S UP! from promoting or advertising events that the city alleges to be illegal. The lawsuit also states that TIME'S UP! and the general public cannot participate in riding or gathering at the Critical Mass bike ride.

Over 60 people attended the Anti-Taser protest in front of APD headquarters this Friday to demand a stop to the use of tasers by the Austin Police Department. Austin's anti-taser movement was sparked by the tasing of a protester during the January 20th inaguration protests on Congress bridge. Multiple "mainstream" television reporters were present to witness the signs and chants such as "Conflict Resolution, Not Electrocution!"

Comprehensive details of each taser-related death from 1999 - Jan 8, 2005

DC must pay protesters $425,000 and police chief Ramsey must send a personal apology letter to each litigator. The lawsuit stemmed from an incident that occurred during demonstrations against the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on Sept. 27, 2002. Police officers surrounded Pershing Park, east of the White House, and took hundreds of demonstrators into custody.

Thousands of people in dozens of cities across the nation walked out of work and school, held mock coronations, intoned the names of the Iraq war dead and held candlelight vigils to show their disapproval of President Bush as he was sworn in for his second term.

Michael Chertoff, Bush's nominee to succeed Ridge as head of Homeland Security, promises to be every bit as scary as the rest of Bush's appointments.

[ Chertoff's Resume (DOJ) | Chertoff: "Lock 'em Up Until We Figure Out What's Going On" | Michael Chertoff: Ashcroft's Top Gremlin | Transcript of Bush's Announcement ]

In the first jury trial stemming from the mass arrests at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, video and photographic evidence showed that police testimony in the case appeared to have been entirely fabricated. Judge Gerald Harris granted a motion to dismiss all charges against Dennis Kyne on December 16th, 2004, after the defendant’s attorneys produced the evidence contradicting statements made by NYPD officer Matthew Wohl while under oath.