> World Socialist Web Site http://www.wsws.org
>
> After the WTO protests in Seattle
>
> Police build up anti-riot forces in US cities
>
> By Shannon Jones
> 14 March 2000
>
> City governments and police officials around the US, concerned
> that the demonstrations against the World Trade Organization
> last fall in Seattle may presage the revival of a protest movement,
> are drawing the conclusion that police powers need to be beefed
> up. Preparations include increasing training in crowd control and
> the purchase of riot equipment.
>
> During the WTO protests, the courts upheld the right of Seattle
> officials to carry out what amounted to a suspension of constitutional
> rights. A federal judge ruled during the WTO convention against a
> request by the ACLU to nullify a 25-block "no protest zone," asserting
> the city had sufficient justification for "reasonable restrictions on
> public freedoms."
>
> City officials in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, sites of the upcoming
> Democratic and Republican Party conventions respectively, have taken
> particular note of the Seattle protests. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan
> has expressed concerns about possible demonstrations at the Democratic
> convention this August. He is reportedly dissatisfied with security
> preparations for the event and recently asked his staff to work with
> convention organizers, the FBI and the Secret Service to settle on a
> security plan.
>
> Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Timoney has asked for an additional
> $5 million for his department to cover overtime, training and expenses and
> the Pennsylvania State Police is asking for $1.9 million to purchase new riot
> equipment for its troopers. "Seattle has got to be a part of what we need to
> do here," said a spokesman for Timoney. "There is going to be a whole host
> of training for police ... depending on the nature of their assignment at the
> convention."
>
> The International Association of Chiefs of Police reports that attendance
> has doubled at courses it offers on "critical situations," which include
> training in crowd control. Last month police officials from Las Vegas, San
> Diego, Minneapolis, Tulsa and Washington DC attended a conference at the FBI
> Academy in Virginia to assess the lessons of the Seattle protests.
>
> "We're reviewing all our policies and procedures," said one Nevada lawman.
> "We recognized in Seattle that there was an entirely new approach by
> protestors.... It's not that they're heading here, but we need to know if
> there is a new shift in what we should expect."
>
> On March 8 the American Civil Liberties Union filed a new action in federal
> court claiming Seattle officials violated constitutional rights by banning
> protests in a wide area surrounding the venue of the WTO meeting last fall.
> Mayor Paul Schell imposed a 25-block "no protest zone" and police carried
> out indiscriminate arrests. "The city made it a crime to engage in perfectly
> lawful acts of free speech," said staff attorney Aaron Caplan of the Washington
> ACLU.
>
> Since December the ACLU says it has received 500 complaints from protesters
> about the treatment meted out by police. One person was harassed for
> passing out copies of the US Constitution. Another was arrested for
> distributing a political cartoon from the New York Times. Police tackled
> him from behind as he attempted to give a flyer to a passerby.
>
> The ACLU complaint seeks damages and names the city of Seattle, Mayor
> Schell, former police chief Norm Stamper and two police officers who carried
> out arrests of protesters.
>
> One plaintiff in the ACLU suit was a WTO delegate who said he had been
> talking with a group of protesters before his arrest. "I glanced over my
> shoulder and saw the black capes flying and batons twirling," he said. "The
> only thing in my mind was that they didn't want us to stand together. They
> grabbed me, put me in a hold, confiscated my report and my WTO credentials.
> I spent the night in jail."