FBI targets Anarchists

[David Morris]

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/america_gets_its_own_pussy_riot_what_books_on_your_shelf_would_the_fbi_call

Between 60 to 80 FBI officers, working in conjunction with agents of
the Joint Terrorism Task Force, armed to the teeth and wearing
paramilitary uniforms, stormed the homes of several suspected
“anarchists” in Portland in late July.

The house where Dennison Williams and Leah-Lynn Plante live was one of
them. When Williams heard loud noises and saw a flash grenade go off,
he began yelling that he was upstairs and unarmed. He told Sarah Mirk
from The Portland Mercury:

“I was scared,” he said. “The police in this town have a history of
shooting people, I was worried they would accidentally shoot me.”

According to Williams, FBI officers entered his room with assault
rifles and kept them aimed at him while they handcuffed him. They put
him in a chair for about 30 minutes while they searched his house.
Williams says there were about 15 FBI officers in the house, plus one
Portland police officer on the street outside. According to the
property receipt Williams received from the officers, the feds seized
several items, including his computer, phone, hard-drive, two thumb
drives, and various clothes (including black jeans, black t-shirt, and
a black bandana). They then served him a subpoena to appear at a grand
jury in Seattle next Thursday, August 2nd.

Williams is not sure exactly what the grand jury is meeting about, but
that likely they want to ask him about other people. The FBI has said
only that the raids are part of an ongoing “violent crime”
investigation.

“It’s related to political opposition, it’s related to political
dissent,” says Williams. “They’re trying to create a wedge within
people who are resistors… They’re specifically pursuing anarchists.”

The FBI search warrant states that they are looking to seize items
which may be evidence regarding the crimes of conspiracy to destroy
government property, interstate travel with intent to riot, and
conspiracy to travel interstate with intent to riot. Those items
include: Clothing and related items work during commission of
offenses; paint; sticks and flags similar to those used or carried
during the commission of the offenses, and material for making flags;
anti-government or anarchist literature, documentation or
communications related to the offenses, flares, computers or
electronic storage media of any kind.

On July 10th, Seattle police officers staged a similar raid on the
house of some Occupy Mayday protesters in Seattle. On the day
Williams’ house and two other houses in Portland were searched, the
FBI served grand jury subpoenas to people in Olympia and Seattle, as
well. Williams was not sure how many people were served subpoenas, but
thinks it is somewhere around seven people, and says he “will not
cooperate” with the grand jury. Anyone who refuses to testify when
subpoenaed can potentially face jail time.

Read that last sentence again. Grand jury subpoenas have also been
served to activists in Olympia and Seattle. Apparently, these
subpoenas involve the investigation of May Day vandalism, according to
the Seattle Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, who urged in a
statement that the U.S. Attorney’s Office drop the subpoenas because
they feared they were being used “as a pretext for harassing political
activists.”