The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent

A National Lawyers Guild Report 41
displaying press credentials, passers-by who had been attracted by
the protesters’ message, and unknowing tourists and others who were
in the area only by coincidence. <strong>The</strong> police then arrested nearly
everyone caught in their trap, including lawful demonstrators,
bystanders, journalists, and tourists. Altogether more than 600 people
were arrested. 113
Because these arrests took place before the meetings and the main
protests began, they rendered it difficult and frightening for arrested
individuals to participate in demonstrations over the following two
days. Such arrests discouraged others from participating in or
observing those demonstrations by signaling to them that they might
be arrested without cause. During these arrests, law enforcement
took video footage of demonstrators from ground level and from
nearby rooftops. Law enforcement also used the arrests as an
opportunity to collect information on demonstrators, including their
identification, photographs, fingerprints, and other information, and
to compile records on lawful demonstrators. 114
<strong>The</strong> arrestees were held in harsh conditions. <strong>The</strong>y were restrained in
plastic handcuffs that inflicted pain, discomfort, and distress.
Arrestees were confined on buses and denied food and water, in
some cases for as long as 18 hours. <strong>The</strong>y were denied use of a
bathroom for hours, causing discomfort and humiliation. Police
denied them use of lawfully dispensed prescription medications for
preexisting conditions. Arrestees were also denied use of a telephone
to contact family members or attorneys. Metropolitan Police
Department officers deliberately misinformed arrestees about their
rights, falsely stating that detention would continue, in some
instances for days, unless detainees posted and forfeited fifty dollars.
<strong>The</strong> police did not advise the detainees of the option to post fifty
dollars and appear at a hearing to contest the arrest. 115 This mass
arrest is the subject of class action by the Partnership for Civil
Justice. 116
Intimidation by FBI Questioning
Three men in Denver who had planned to travel to a protest at the
2004 Democratic National Convention instead were in court in St.
Louis appearing before a grand jury after being interviewed by the
FBI. 117 <strong>The</strong> FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted interviews