[Peace-discuss] Fwd: FBI agents come calling on Lawrence anarchists

[Al Kagan]

FYI

>
>
>FBI agents come calling on Lawrence anarchists
>
>Investigators fear violent disruption of Democratic convention
>
>By Eric Weslander, Journal-World
>
>Saturday, July 24, 2004
>
>FBI officials Friday went door-to-door in Lawrence and neighboring 
>cities trying to find and interview members of a local anarchist 
>group.
>
>----------------
>Scott Pinkelman, left, reads a pamphlet as Katy Andrus, right, 
>relaxes on his shoulder, and Dave Strano talks on the phone at 
>Solidarity -- Revolutionary Center & Radical Library, 13 W. 14th St. 
>The group of activists awaited a visit from the FBI on Friday.
>----------------
>
>Members of the group said they thought agents were trying to find 
>out if they knew of any plans to disrupt the Democratic National 
>Convention next week in Boston. According to national news reports, 
>FBI officials said Friday they had "unconfirmed information" that a 
>domestic group planned to violently disrupt the convention by 
>targeting media vehicles with explosives or incendiary devices.
>
>Citing unidentified sources, ABC News reported Friday the group 
>whose statements triggered the warning was "made up of college-age 
>members based in the Midwest."
>
>Members of the Lawrence anarchist group say that, as far as they 
>know, no one from their group is planning to go to the convention. 
>They accused law enforcement agents of "scare tactics" and said they 
>felt they were being harassed.
>
>"I think they're exploiting people's fear about terrorism as much as 
>possible so as to neutralize opposition," said Scott Pinkelman, 20, 
>who said agents paid a Friday morning visit to his parents' home in 
>Shawnee and called his father at work.
>
>Nervous mood
>
>Pinkelman and about a dozen friends spent all day at the Lawrence 
>anarchist headquarters near 14th and Massachusetts streets, a 
>building with red signs outside that say "Solidarity -- 
>Revolutionary Center & Radical Library." Group members smoked 
>cigarettes, ate bagels, talked on cell phones and clutched hand-held 
>cameras to use for documentation in case agents arrived.
>   
>"Unfortunately, we are kind of scared," said group member Vanessa Hays.
>
>Hays said FBI agents went Friday morning to her mother's home in 
>Topeka asking for her and saying she might know someone who was 
>planning a violent act. Hays said she thought such visits were an 
>attempt to put pressure on protesters by getting family members 
>involved.
>
>"I'm in the phone book," Hays said. "If they wanted to find me, they 
>could find me very easily."
>
>FBI view
>
>Jeff Lanza, an FBI spokesman in Kansas City, Mo., confirmed agents 
>were in the area "to conduct interviews pursuant to a federal 
>investigation," but wouldn't elaborate. He said agents typically 
>tried to contact family members if they were having difficulty 
>finding someone.
>
>As of Friday afternoon, Lanza said, no one had been arrested in 
>Kansas and no search warrants had been served as part of the 
>investigation. Anarchist group members said they learned Thursday 
>that two people they knew in Denver had been arrested, but Lanza 
>said he couldn't confirm that.
>
>--------------
>Activists at the Solidarity -- Revolutionary Center & Radical 
>Library, 13 W. 14th St., say they are being unfairly targeted by 
>federal investigators.
>--------------
>
>Some of the anarchists said they feared their headquarters would be 
>raided. Lanza said that wouldn't happen unless investigators had 
>probable cause and a warrant signed by a judge.
>
>Group members said they contacted a local attorney, Richard Frydman, 
>who agreed to represent them if need be.
>
>Agents spotted
>
>Neighbors of one of the anarchist group members said that on Friday 
>they saw two different sets of plainclothes officers come to the 
>neighbor's door in the 1600 block of Tennessee Street. The second 
>group of agents asked if they'd seen the neighbor lately and asked 
>where she worked.
>
>The agents left behind a note on the woman's dry-erase board with a 
>phone number and the message, "Please Contact FBI Wichita Office."
>
>"It's creepy," said one of the neighbors, Leslie Witherspoon, who 
>said she sympathized with anarchist views. "It's a little too Big 
>Brother for Lawrence, Kansas."
>
>In the past year, anarchists here have protested various issues, 
>including the Iraqi war, a $500-a-plate dinner at the Dole Institute 
>of Politics dedication and the length of the prison sentence given 
>to an Oregon man convicted of setting fire to SUVs.
>
>Members of the group said they thought they were being painted as 
>terrorists even though they were philosophically opposed to violence.
>
>"It's a crime when it's nongovernmental, but it's a war when it is," 
>said David Strano, one of the group members.
>
>http://www.ljworld.com/section/citynews/story/176544


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu