Fourteen arrests at NSA/Right-Wing Editor Brags about "Infiltrating" DC Protest March

Friends, As part of the Freedom Square Occupation, fourteen of us were arrested at the National Security Agency on October 9.  More than twenty activists went to the NSA seeking a meeting with Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, the director, but were instead threatened with arrest.  After a Close the NSA sign was taped on the marker leading to the entrance to the Agency, the arrests began.  The activists are facing three ridiculous charges with the mandatory court date to be determined.  More information will be sent later. Kagiso, Max Right-Wing Editor Brags about "Infiltrating" DC Protest March   By Sarah Jaffe, AlterNet Posted on October 9, 2011, Printed on October 9, 2011 http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/677522/right-wing_editor_brags_about_%5C%22infiltrating%5C%22_dc_protest_march Washington, DC saw not one but two major protest actions this weekend, and one of them, a peaceful march to the Air and Space Museum to protest an exhibit on unmanned drones, saw a confrontation with police that led to protesters getting pepper-sprayed.  Apparently, one of those "protesters" was American Spectator editor Patrick Howley.  Blogger Charlie Grapski at FireDogLake writes:   Immediately after the incident began hitting the newswires Howley published a “Breaking News” story with The American Spectator online in which he reveals that he had consciously infiltrated the group on Friday with the intent to discredit the movement.  He states that “as far as anyone knew I was part of this cause — a cause that I had infiltrated the day before in order to mock and undermine in the pages of The American Spectator — and I wasn’t giving up before I had my story.”  According to Howley’s story he joined the group in its march toward the Air and Space Museum but the protesters on the march were unwilling to be confrontational.  He states “they lack the nerve to confront authority. From estimates within the protest, only ten people were pepper-sprayed, and as far as I could tell I was the only one who got inside.”  Since peaceful protesters wound up getting a faceful of pepper-spray because of Howley\'s decision to act aggressively, Grapski argues:  American Spectator and the role played in these events by its editorial staff.  If arrests were made at this incident, and even if none were, the admissions of Howley published brazenly in the pages of his Conservative magazine and bragged about on his Facebook page should lead to an official investigation into his role and that of his employer in the events in Washington D.C. today and should be seen as at least part of the causal nexus that led to the inappropriate use of force that along with Howley negatively affected many who were innocent of any crime other than being at the wrong place at the wrong time. © 2011 All rights reserved. View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews//

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