In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups
Moles Wanted
By Matt Snyders
They
were looking for an informant to show up at "vegan potlucks" throughout
the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors.
Paul Carroll was riding his bike when his cell phone vibrated.
Once he arrived home from the Hennepin County Courthouse, where he’d
been served a gross misdemeanor for spray-painting the interior of a
campus elevator, the lanky, wavy-haired University of Minnesota
sophomore flipped open his phone and checked his messages. He was
greeted by a voice he recognized immediately. It belonged to U of M
Police Sgt. Erik Swanson, the officer to whom Carroll had turned
himself in just three weeks earlier. When Carroll called back, Swanson
asked him to meet at a coffee shop later that day, going on to assure a
wary Carroll that he wasn’t in trouble.
Carroll, who requested that his real name not be used, showed up
early and waited anxiously for Swanson’s arrival. Ten minutes later, he
says, a casually dressed Swanson showed up, flanked by a woman whom he
introduced as FBI Special Agent Maureen E. Mazzola. For the next 20
minutes, Mazzola would do most of the talking.
“She told me that I had the perfect ‘look,’” recalls Carroll. “And
that I had the perfect personality—they kept saying I was friendly and
personable—for what they were looking for.”
What they were looking for, Carroll says, was an informant—someone
to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub
shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner
circles, then reporting back to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a
partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law
enforcement. The effort’s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis
division’s website, is to “investigate terrorist acts carried out by
groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist
groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General
Guidelines.”
Carroll would be compensated for his efforts, but only if his
involvement yielded an arrest. No exact dollar figure was offered.
“I’ll pass,” said Carroll.
For 10 more minutes, Mazzola and Swanson tried to sway him. He remained obstinate.
“Well, if you change your mind, call this number,” said Mazzola,
handing him her card with her cell phone number scribbled on the back.
(Mazzola, Swanson, and the FBI did not return numerous calls seeking comment.)
Carroll’s story echoes a familiar theme. During the lead-up the 2004
Republican National Convention in New York City, the NYPD’s
Intelligence Division infiltrated and spied on protest groups across
the country, as well as in Canada and Europe. The program’s scope
extended to explicitly nonviolent groups, including street theater
troupes and church organizations.
There were also two reported instances of police officers, dressed
as protestors, purposefully instigating clashes. At the 2004 Republican
National Convention, the NYPD orchestrated a fake arrest to incite
protestors. When a blond man was “arrested,” nearby protestors began
shouting, “Let him go!” The helmeted police proceeded to push back
against the crowd with batons and arrested at least two. In a similar
instance, during an April 29, 2005, Critical Mass bike ride in New
York, video footage captured a “protestor”—in reality an undercover
cop—telling his captor, “I’m on the job,” and being subsequently let
go.
Minneapolis’s own recent Critical Mass skirmish was allegedly
initiated by two unidentified stragglers in hoods—one wearing a
handkerchief over his or her face—who “began to make aggressive moves”
near the back of the pack. During that humid August 31 evening,
officers went on to arrest 19 cyclists while unleashing pepper spray
into the faces of bystanders. The hooded duo was never apprehended.
In the scuffle’s wake, conspiracy theories swirled that the
unprecedented surveillance—squad cars from multiple agencies and a
helicopter hovering overhead—was due to the presence of RNC protesters
in the ride. The MPD publicly denied this. But during the trial of
cyclist Gus Ganley, MPD Sgt. David Stichter testified that a task force
had been created to monitor the August 31 ride and that the department
knew that members of an RNC protest group would be along for the ride.
“This is all part of a larger government effort to quell political
dissent,” says Jordan Kushner, an attorney who represented Ganley and
other Critical Mass arrestees. “The Joint Terrorism Task Force is
another example of using the buzzword ‘terrorism’ as a basis to clamp
down on people’s freedoms and push forward a more authoritarian
government.”
raw food
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