Reply #45: More info on the intelligence gathering here

[illumn8d]

Well it seems the state was in on it, but no info about the feds.

http://www.labournet.net/docks2/0603/oakland1.htm

----snip
Instead, the documents show that the San Francisco Police Dept. told the OPD the Local 10 had taken a public stand against the war and that longshore workers would likely “sympathize with the protesters and participate in the direct action.” Further, according to an investigative report in the May 18, 2003 edition of the Oakland Tribune, the OPD received an “intelligence” report from the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center (CATIC) five days before the demonstration. The CATIC, a state agency staffed with personnel from the FBI, the Defense Intelligence Agnecy and other federal, state and local agencies, warned the police the protesters might turn violent. The CATIC selectively gleaned information from activist websites and list-serves and intercepted email correspondence of ILWU members to support its notions of the protest and protesters.

The Tribune quoted CATIC spokesman Mike Van Winkle justifying his agency’s tactics.

“f you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that’s being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that ,” Van Winkle said. “You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act.”