On the morning of the third day of the Republican National Convention several activists were the victims of a no-knock, warrantless house raid conducted by the FBI, DHS, and local police.
Despite months of media coverage promising some of the most violent and chaotic protests at the Republican National Convention, the political circus came and went with very little fanfare. The numbers of protesters were drastically lower than the numbers put forth by organizers and the deadstream media.
Aside from a few arrests for the legal act of burning the American flag there was not much dramatics and in reality, the $50 million “security grant” used to increase security around the city of Cleveland was largely wasted. The majority of the cops were left standing around wondering why the heck they were following around a handful of mostly peaceful protesters. However, there was one incident involving federal and local law enforcement blatantly violating the rights of activists who were in town for the Republican National Convention.
On Wednesday morning, activists (some who claim association with Anonymous or identify as Anarchists) had guns pulled on them before they were forced out of their beds and into the streets to be questioned by agents of the federal government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Elyria police illegally entered the home of a local resident who was hosting visiting out of town activists. Cleveland.com reported:
FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said law enforcement went to the house Wednesday morning because those inside were suspected of causing issues this week in Public Square in downtown Cleveland. Namely, agents believe the group threw bottles of urine at police officers, Anderson said.A spokesman for Elyria police also confirmed that its officers joined the FBI at the Lake Avenue house shortly after 7:40 a.m. He did not have any further details.
Anderson also told Cleveland.com that the officers did not put guns in the protesters faces and did not enter the house. However, this statement is contradicted by two videos captured by activist Rod Webber who was inside the house at the time of the raid.
The videos clearly shows a police officer yelling at one of the protesters, “get out of the bed. I’m not going to tell you again, or I’m going to come get you out of bed. Come on, you know what’s going on. Get out here.” The officers take the protesters outside of the house before questioning them about whether or not they had thrown bottles of urine and feces at police officers the day before.
“The Ohio NLG condemns warrantless raids without consent as unlawful police conduct,” Jacqueline Greene, an organizer with the Ohio National Lawyers Guild, told Cleveland.com.
Activist Post spoke with activist Brittany Om about her experience being woken up by the FBI with a gun in her face.”It was 8:00-ish am and they didn’t knock, one officer came in with his gun already drawn and went back to our bedroom by himself to get us. They didn’t ask any questions except if we knew some people and they read off names but we didn’t know any of them. Then they said they’ve been watching us for a few days and if we didn’t want to see them again that we will stay away from the RNC.”
Activist Post reporter Derrick Broze spoke with Rod Webber (aka The Flower Guy) about the raid as well. Webber was inside the house when the raid began and made the decision to record the incident from two different cameras.
The RNC may not have been the clash of protesters and police that some may have hoped or promoted but the raid by the FBI does in fact show that the American Police State lives. In times of great fear and paranoia the authorities will use whatever justification they can muster to force their way and intimidate those who seek to expose them. In the end we only have the “rights” we are willing to stand up and fight to preserve.
Our RNC coverage is sponsored by Get Cell 411 an app for activists and neighborhoods to self organize to help each other.
Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter forActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of two books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion. Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact [email protected]
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When they start dying for these actions that are unconstitutional and a disgrace to anyone with a soul and conscience then and only then will they think twice about acting like thugs, and disgracing the oath they took.
No Knock, No Warrant, always leads to no knock revolutions.
Violent protests always leads to police reprisal.
This would seem to suggest that Anonymous is not limited hangout. Somehow Medea Benjamin snuck in, again, with a banner. I could recognize her immediately; but no one at the convention could. Same way she sneaks in to Senate sessions with large banners and then disrupts the proceedings…those fake revolutionaries are slick! And always no security anywhere until it’s time to pretend to escort her out.
You’re too suspicious!
… WHY?!?
Because you consider her a fake but don’t explain why!
Where’s my body armor and grenade launcher. Cripe it’s all about the unholy above the rule of law buttheads in the east.
Chaos reigns and the phoenix rises.
The dangerous thugs are on the streets, rioting and killing cops. They are not asleep in their apartment! They couldn’t even get a judge to sign off on a warrant because they had NO probably cause for their illegal search and seizure. It’s time for a class action against the FBI and DHS. The career politicians & judges who signed off on this no knock, no warrant “law” need to be held accountable. The law must be nullified as unconstitutional and we must be active on a local level.
Agree to hold accountable those actually accountable. The corporate entities F**, D** etc. will feel no pain if or when sued.
However the individuals serving as oath sworn public servants when defending their unlawful acts, they can be made to feel , made to pay.
Go after them in their individual capacity as malfeasant servants, each one has to hire their own BAR fly, so it gets expensive quick…
True, but not impossible. We need to become more active in our local communities to keep the crap from rising to the top.
Yes, The people must stand and speak with their own voice, just as the Declaration of Independence needed no “representation”!
Agreed. Well said.
My best guess is nobody threw bottles of urine and feces. It was all made up to give the cops something to do because there was a whole lot of standing around going on.
Agree. Create a “problem”, reveal a “solution”, then have your sycophants start the slaughter. Their L.E. agencies were caught infiltrating peaceful demonstrators, encouraged or COMMITED criminal acts which allowed their L.E. agencies to crush legal dissent from the ’60’s to today. And like the corporations that poison us, not a single one has been indicted, tried or faced justice.
I know there had been ads looking for crisis actors and they might have needed to justify that with some sort of commotion. I’d love to know what these cops were saying to each other after they figured out the people were just trying to get some sleep and left them.
Some of us have prepared for the goon squads. I assume you pigs want to go home after work? Better think with your own brains then than follow orders that will get you killed.
The law really needs to get over this illegal behavior. The Patriot Act, Homeland Security, DEA, IRS, EPA, Dept. of Ed., Czars and whatever other useless out of control government agencies need to be gone.
Well, they sure did knock on the door alot for a no-knock raid…
He’s right and I enjoy how he often bushwhacks political correctness. On the other hand, activism that involves well coordinated large scale “civil disobedience”, intelligently and carefully targeted, is exactly what we need. “Voting with our pocket books” was another nice tactic, easy and effective but too many sheeple and now our pocket books are about to disappear!
Looks like the activist post only approves Antifa anarchist.
Why did they answer the door and let them in? They had no warrant, so they could only gain lawful entrance with permission. The should have ignored the police.
Don’t worry the grant from the Feds wasn’t wasted… All the scumbags, from the Mayor to the chief of police, council, etc. etc. got their cut of the money you can be sure of it.
one thing civil unrest brings is justification for constitution suspension. Who said Marshall Law doesn’t exist in America.
Looking forward to the DNC version of suspending the constitution in the name of going after ‘the bad guys’.
While the cross-dressing pervert Hoover ran the political parasites @ the FBI it was discovered the old deviant had accumulated dossiers on high ranking politicians’ perversions and indiscretions. I put to readers that the CIA is even more adept at blackmail. More than his planning on doing away with “the bank”, I believe his plans to shatter the CIA into a million pieces was just as big, or bigger in the plan to maintain “the synagogue” and their Central Banks’ strangle hold on governments which led to his murder. The litmus test of a politician’s integrity/honor is whether or not he’s allowed to live. You never see “unusual” circumstances surrounding those willing to “play ball”, just those not so much.
A-political int’l human rights organizations estimate the number of murders committed by CIA filth to be +/- 6,000,000 globally, (probably higher now, the data was a few years old). This coupled with the COMMON KNOWLEDGE of their drug trafficking makes one wonder why they are still allowed to function and haven’t filled all available cells on death row instead. Fine, fine nation – this.
The gang in D.C. are more apt to “play ball” if they know the CIA et al is willing to expose their love of fat-butt boys and little girls. Monetary payoffs are simply an added impetus.
Sick – sick world we live in, no?
There’s a price to pay for climbing into bed w/the synagogue.
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Pure fascism and the American people do nothing of the sort to protect there constitutional rights.This my US friends is where the problem lays.Remember the Oklahoma bombing which was an inside job under the Clinton watch and then the 9/11 bombing which was also an inside job under the watch of George Bush junior, the goal was the tearing up of the constitution so they could run the country like the Third Reich. The Patriot Act and the NDAA where written way before any of these actions took place and that tells you it was all planed. The only way America can get there country back is to get back the constitution and enforce it and make those who violate it accountable, it,s the only way.