According to a recent report, the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), penetrated far-left protests at Portland, recording crimes by antifascists, anarchists, and racial Justice protesters.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday a story detailing the FBI’s surveillance operations, which were deployed at racial justice protests in the city and at demonstrations during President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January.
According to some reports, FBI agents were seen standing “shoulder to shoulder with activists, tailing vandalism suspects to guide the local police toward arrests and furtively videotaping”Demonstrators protested during the waves of demonstrations, despite the fact that some bureau employees were concerned about the possibility of such operations sparking controversy.
According to reports, two unidentified officials told the newspaper some agents had been fired. “worried that the teams could be compared to F.B.I. surveillance transgressions of decades past, such as the COINTELPRO projects that sought to spy on and disrupt various activist groups in the 1950s and 1960s.”
According to reports, some FBI agents were seen wearing black clothes in an apparent attempt to blend with far-left protesters. They have been known for dressing in black and using masks to hide their identities. The operations resulted in the arrests and destruction of property as well as weapons carrying protestors.
Bobbin Singh, executive director of Oregon Justice Research Center, condemned the “insidious tactics,”They argue that “chill First Amendment expression and erode trust with local officials.”
Mike German, a former FBI Special Agent, also criticised the operation and told The Times that they were not in the best interest of the Bureau. “should focus its resources on groups engaged in deadly violence, not vandals.”
According to reports, the alleged surveillance operations were used in Oregon recently against protestors. The Department of Justice was sued this month after its anti-terrorism Oregon TITAN Fusion Center was accused of illegally surveilling environmental protesters – including Native American activists – who protested a gas pipeline in the state.
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