#silencingdissent — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #silencingdissent, aggregated by home.social.
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Trump Goes After Anonymous Email Provider in Italy. The Real Target Is Free Speech in the U.S.
Trump designated an Italian web-hosting provider as a foreign “terror” group. It could take #antifascist sites in the U.S. offline.
Matt Sledge
August 28 2026"In the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s war on the left, the U.S. government’s designation of a popular antifascist webhosting provider as a terror group could shutter a swath of radical websites in the U.S.
"Secretary of State #MarcoRubio and Treasury Secretary #ScottBessent announced Wednesday that they were targeting the Italy-based A/I Collective with terror sanctions. Federal law gives the Treasury Department broad discretion to apply the terror label to foreign groups.
"A wide array of #anarchist, antifascist, and #FarLeft groups in the U.S. and abroad use the privacy-minded collective’s offerings, including an anonymous email service and its popular noblogs.org blogging platform.
"The practice of designating an internet platform and service provider as a terror group — rather than those pursuing violence themselves — has 'huge' implications for the future free speech on the internet, warned Jillian York, the director of international freedom of expression at the #ElectronicFrontierFoundation.
" 'They are going after the messenger,' York said. 'I don’t think that the members of the group would necessarily condone the actions of the people that they hosted. What they do condone is the freedom to host, the ability to be anonymous, the ability to be private.'
"The A/I Collective told The Intercept that it is exploring its legal options to fight the sanctions, which block U.S. citizens and companies from providing the group with financial support.
"In an unsigned statement, the group said that it denies the U.S. government’s allegations.
" '#Antifascism and #anticapitalism are not #terrorism ,' the group said. '#Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for #humanity.' " [And #MotherEarth ! ]
Source:
https://theintercept.com/2026/08/28/trump-antifa-terrorist-websites-free-speech/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/4ETk2#FreeSpeech #AutisticiInventati #Solidarity #USPol #WorldPol #SolidarityWithAutisticiInventati #FreedomOfExpression #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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HT
@brucesA single signature by #Trump can remove you from the #internet
by di Stefania Maurizi, 31 August 2026
Excerpt: " 'Designating a collective that has been active for over twenty years in the European civil and digital rights movement—and has always operated openly—as a terrorist organization is part of the technological war that the United States is waging against anyone who asserts autonomy over digital networks and infrastructure...' "
https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2026/08/29/autistici-inventati-trump-terrorists-news/8491452/
#AutisticiInventati #USPol #WorldPol #ItalyPol #Censorship #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #Trumpistan #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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#US Manufactured Crimes and Spied on Peaceful #Protesters During #Minneapolis Metro Surge, New Court Filing Reveals
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 14, 2026
MINNEAPOLIS -- "While #Dakotas were praying at a #SacredSpring for those held in federal detention at the #WhippleBuilding in Minneapolis -- the U.S. government was spying on, and stalking, the #WhippleWatchers, a new court document reveals.
"The government is refusing to release all of its documents on its surveillance of those watching the Whipple building. The Whipple building is on the site of a former concentration camp, where Dakota and Ho Chunk were imprisoned, suffered and died.
" 'The government admits withholding at least five #ProjectWhippleShield #ROIs (Reports of Investigation) from the initial disclosures,' the court filing states.
"In the current case, the court document for discovery filed yesterday describes how the U.S. government spied on and tracked peaceful protesters during the #resistance to #OperationMetroSurge.
"Not only were peaceful protesters spied on, #stalked and #doxxed, but the #surveillance was carried out to #ManufactureCrimes when none existed, states the court document filed by a defense attorney for one of the government's targets."
Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2026/08/us-manufactured-crimes-and-spied-on.html#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent
#CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity -
Documents show federal surveillance operation in #Minnesota targeted #progressive groups, #unions
By TIM SULLIVAN and JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Updated 11:02 PM EDT, August 13, 2026MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — "Federal agents launched a sweeping undercover surveillance operation earlier this year targeting progressive organizations, labor unions and other groups protesting the immigration crackdown then raging through Minneapolis, according to court documents filed Thursday.
"The program, dubbed #OperationPuppetMaster, was aimed at what officials called a network of conspirators helping 'violent opportunists and agitators.' The documents were filed in a case involving 15 people charged by federal prosecutors in June with impeding the crackdown, accusing them of conspiring against the federal government through a range of actions, from throwing ice chunks to setting up blockades.
"The government documents were released Thursday in connection with a motion from a defense lawyer in the case, #KevinRiach, who requested that officials disclose more material collected during the investigations.
"The reality, according to government documents revealed in court motions, was Department of Homeland Security officers infiltrating meetings in churches, schools and parks that were often simply discussions of constitutionally protected protests.
"A statement from the department said Homeland Security Investigations doesn’t comment on the existence or status of on-going investigations or investigative methods. The statement referred questions to the U.S. attorney’s office in Minnesota, which didn’t immediately respond to an after-hours email from The Associated Press."
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent
#CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism
#DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity -
‘Outrageous’: #Trump Officials Investigated #LeftWing Groups After #AlexPretti Killing in #Minneapolis
One #FirstAmendment advocacy group called the investigation a “disturbing, invasive, and utterly unjustifiable attack on freedom of expression and political dissent.”
Julia Conley
Aug 13, 2026"The Trump administration began the probe under the auspices of investigating whether the groups had provided 'help and money,' as the Times reported, to people who had participated in protests across the #MinneapolisSaintPaul area, where tens of thousands of residents rallied against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) and defended their neighbors from immigration raids last winter.
"Newly released government documents, which were uncovered after an attorney filed a motion with the federal District Court in Minnesota demanding information about the DHS investigation, show that the agency characterized the protesters who opposed ICE as 'violent opportunists and agitators.'
"The investigation included #DHS’ use of administrative subpoenas to obtain financial records from #SunriseMovement, Communications Workers of America [ #CWA ], and the #SEIU, scrutinizing what the agency called 'domestic terrorist financing.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-left-wing
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #USPol #UnionBusting #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #DefundICE #DefundDHS #CharacteristicsOfFascism #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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Posting again for others. My #Facebook account was suspended today. They wanted me to submit a photo ID, but my hubby, who also had his account suspended, told me that didn't change anything. This is #Fascism and #FaceSurveillance at it's highest form. If you're still on FB and get suspended, download your archive and maybe make an announcement on #Instagram (mine was still working).
#BigBrother #ZuckSucks #SilencingDissent #CharacteristicsOfFascism #TechBros #SurveillanceState
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Incarcerated for Life in #Trump’s War on the Left
#AutumnHill had already gone home when a #protest outside an #ICE facility turned violent. She was still sentenced to 50 years, over twice as long as any #Jan6 defendant
by MATTHEW COOLEY
August 12, 2026"The battering ram took down the door first. A column of steel bolted to the front of a tactical vehicle slammed through Autumn Hill’s front entryway. Then the windows shattered. FBI agents threw flash-bang grenades through the glass, their concussions rattling the house’s front rooms. Hill was in the shared office space, in a thin red dress, puttering around on her computer. She heard screams from the other rooms. Then, the buzzing of a drone, as the police flew a quadcopter in through the splintered doorframe. A voice from the drone shrieked out, telling the residents of the house to come out with their hands up. Hill was terrified. She edged out of the door and immediately stared down a wall of gun barrels, masked agents screaming orders, the drone screaming in the air behind her.
" 'I remember thinking, ‘If I don’t do exactly what I’m told for the next minute of my life I’m going to die right now,' Hill says.
Through its loudspeaker, the #drone called repeatedly for one name: '#BenjaminSong.' Song wasn’t in the house, and no one inside knew them by that name. To Hill and her chosen family — an eclectic mix of personalities who lived together in what they called the '#BigGayHouse' — Song was 'Champagne,' a #genderfluid, politically #radical #activist who had, the night before, led a group to a demonstration outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility near #PrairielandTX. The protest, on July 4, 2025, was loosely organized in a collection of local activism group chats, and attracted a few dozen attendees, all of whom had their own idea of what they wanted to accomplish. Many, like Hill, planned a '#NoiseDemo,' or a loud protest involving fireworks and loud chants, aimed at disrupting the guards’ routine and letting the detainees inside know that they had supporters outside the fence."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/eRg8I#WarOnTheLeft #USPol #Prairieland #DetentionCenters #Fascism #NSPM7 #PrairielandDefendants #Orwellian #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #Prairieland8 #CharacteristicsOfFascism
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She protested #ICERaids. Then agents showed up at her door
by Meg Anderson, August 3, 2026
"Early one morning this June, #TreasureThoreson was drinking coffee on her couch in #Minneapolis when she heard a knock at the front door.
" 'I go and I see a woman standing there in office clothes, but with a Homeland Security vest over the top. And I see six more agents standing in my front yard,' Thoreson told NPR. "She said, 'We have a warrant for your arrest, for conspiracy.' "
"Thoreson, a special education teacher, was still in her pajamas. The agent let her change clothes and hug her partner goodbye before taking her into custody.
"The government charged Thoreson and 14 others with engaging in a conspiracy to impede federal agents — a conspiracy it says culminated in the use of blockades outside the Whipple Federal Building, which served as ICE's headquarters during the immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota this past winter.
"The government cited meetings and conversations on the encrypted messaging app #Signal as evidence. At the advice of her lawyer, Thoreson declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment.
An increasing trend
"The charges against Thoreson are part of an escalating trend. NPR reviewed court records from the last five years to examine how the federal government is wielding one specific charge: conspiracy to impede or injure an officer, which can carry a sentence of up to six years in federal prison.
"The statute, which dates back to the Civil War, has historically been used infrequently. But since President #Trump took office last year, the Justice Department has charged more than three dozen people in at least 10 cases. All of them involve people protesting federal immigration enforcement.
The government has also indicted nearly 50 people on #conspiracy charges in #Michigan, #Texas and #Minnesota using different legal statutes."
Read more:
https://www.npr.org/2026/08/03/nx-s1-5886263/ice-dhs-immigration-enforcement-conspiracy-arrests#USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #CriminalizingDissent #SilencingDissent #ICESucks #DefundICE #TrumpSucks #DepartmentOfHomelandInsecurity
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#AmnestyInternational
Interactive #ProtestMapPosted 31 October 2025
"Our new interactive map reveals how many countries misuse police weapons such as rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray, and batons to harass, intimidate, punish, or drive away protesters, shutting down their right to peaceful assembly. It also includes protest restrictions in the #UK.
"Our right to protest under threat across the world
"Authorities across the world are increasingly resorting to unlawful use of force and repressive legislation to crush protests. We have launched this interactive digital map to expose the shocking rise in the repression of protesters by states across the globe.
"This map shows how governments treat protests as a threat rather than a right and how law enforcement officials view their role as being to suppress and subdue protesters rather than to facilitate their rights. As a result, thousands of people are being unlawfully dispersed, arrested, beaten and even killed during demonstrations. They also face devastating consequences afterwards, just for participating in protests.
"In the UK, police have made over 2100 arrests under the #TerrorismAct 2000 for peacefully protesting the banning of #PalestineAction in the UK. It is a violation of the UK’s international obligations. And it simply can’t go unchallenged."
Spotlight on the #USA:
"UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY IS IN DANGER IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
- Protest is treated as a threat
- Unlawful force is used against protesters and less-lethal weapons are misused
- Militarization takes place"Full map:
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/knowledge-hub/all-resources/interactive-protest-map/#USPol #WorldPol #CriminalizingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #SilencingDissent #RightToProtest
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#RightToProtest is under attack in #England and #Wales, reports warn
#HumanRightsWatch and Justice say recent legislative changes have had a chilling effect and should be repealedby Haroon Siddique
Thu 8 Jan 2026"The right to protest is under attack in England and Wales with laws trampling over human rights protections and more oppressive restrictions in the pipeline, two major reports have warned.
"Both Human Rights Watch and the cross-party law reform organisation Justice say recent legislative changes have created a chilling effect on lawful protest and should be repealed. Their reports, simultaneously published on Thursday, also say that proposals for more curbs should be halted.
"They highlight the arrest of Republic #AntiMonarchy protesters during King Charles’s coronation, charges and arrests of #ProPalestinian demonstrators and long sentences for #ClimateProtesters as examples of the crackdown on the right to peaceful dissent.
"Fiona Rutherford, chief executive of Justice, said: 'Year by year, we see police powers grow, as our fundamental right to protest is treated more like a privilege. The law in this area has become dangerously unbalanced, empowering the state to silence voices it should be safeguarding. Reversing this trend is essential to restoring trust, protecting rights and preserving a healthy democracy.'
"Lydia Gall, a senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: 'The UK is now adopting protest-control tactics imposed in countries where democratic safeguards are collapsing. The UK should oppose such measures, not replicate and endorse them.'
"Both reports say that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the #PublicOrderAct 2023 were watershed moments, criminalising large amounts of previously lawful protest activity and placing a greater emphasis on preemptive containment of protest through criminal law.
The 2022 law granted police authority to impose conditions on public assemblies on grounds such as causing 'serious unease' or being 'too noisy', described by Human Rights Watch as 'vague and subjective'.
"Members of the public can be arrested for carrying items – described as innocuous by Justice – including cable ties, bike locks or glue, on suspicion that they may be used for 'locking‑on'."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/KORuE#CriminalizingProtest #SilencingDissent #EnvironmentalActivists #GazaGenocide #HumanRights #AntiProtestLaws
#RightToProtest #ACAB #UKPol #JustStopOil #PalestineAction -
Why #GiorgiaMeloni's '#AntiProtest' law has divided #Italy
Italy’s new security law, pushed through by PM Giorgia Meloni’s #RightWing government, is stoking nationwide outrage. From harsher protest penalties and a ban on cannabis light to legal cover for police, critics warn it criminalises dissent and threatens #CivilLiberties. Protests, international concerns and Senate drama have all followed
FP Explainers
June 5, 2025"A new security decree introduced by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition government has divided Italy.
"Approved by the Senate with 109 votes in favour, 69 against, and one abstention, the legislation has sparked a backlash from opposition lawmakers, human rights bodies and legal groups, who argue that it undermines fundamental freedoms and disproportionately punishes marginalised communities.
"The decree expands legal authority for law enforcement, imposes stricter penalties on demonstrators, and introduces a variety of criminal provisions touching on #protests, public order, #cannabis regulation, and social #housing.
"While the government insists the law is a necessary measure to safeguard security, critics see it as a repressive attempt to #CriminaliseDissent and curb civil liberties in one of Europe’s major democracies."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/n6clN#WorldPol #ItalyPol #CriminalizingProtest #SilencingDissent #Authoritarianism #Fascism #HistoryRepeats? #AntiProtestLaws
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From 2022: #NSW Police Use #AntProtest Laws to Monitor Tour Groups
by Paul Gregoire & Ugur Nedim,13 Oct 2022
Excerpt: "#SilencingDissent
"Back in 2014, then NSW premier Mike Baird told a NSW mining industry dinner that his government was going to 'crackdown' on those who choose to break the law when they protest. And he singled out '#protesters who unlawfully enter #mining sites.'
"A little over a year later, the Coalition government followed through with the premier’s promise when it passed a series of harsh #AntiProtestLaws, under the Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Interference) Bill 2016.
"The legislation created the new offence of aggravated unlawful entry on inclosed lands. Section 4B of the #InclosedLand Protection Act 1901 provides that interfering, or attempts to interfere, with the conduct of a business on enclosed land can land a #protester with a fine of up to $5,500.
"Under the provisions of the bill, police were provided with additional powers to stop, search, detain, and seize the property of protesters, as well as being given the power to shutdown a peaceful protest if it is #ObstructingTraffic.
"And the bill also inserted a definition of #mine into section 201 of the #CrimesAct 1900, so that the offence of interfering with a mine includes #coal seam #gas exploration and extraction sites. This offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.
"The #WilpinjongThree
"Bev Smiles, Bruce Hughes and Stephanie Luce are the first people to be up on protesting charges since the laws were changed. In April last year, the three were arrested for protesting outside the #Wilpinjong #CoalMine in #Wollar.
"The three are up on charges of rendering a road belonging to a mine useless and hindering the working equipment belonging to a mine. These are both offences that carry the penalty of seven years imprisonment.
"When the trio appeared at Mudgee Local Court on February 9, the presiding magistrate rejected police claims that the Wollar-Ulan Road, where the defendants were arrested, actually belonged to the mining company.
" 'They have pleaded not guilty, and are awaiting a judgment on the case,' Mr Phillips explained. 'The outcome of that case will be important.” If the three have 'the book thrown at them' then it’s likely to discourage the protesting of coal mines in NSW."
#AustraliaPol #AusPol #CriminalizingProtest #NoMining #CoalMines #UraniumMines #Australia #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #LandBack
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Why We Have to Fight Back Against ICE Protesters’ Terror Convictions
Since his first inauguration, Trump has been throwing charges at protesters and seeing what sticks. He always failed — until now.
Natasha Lennard, March 17 2026
Excerpt: "It started on President Donald Trump’s very first day in office in 2017. Over 200 #InaugurationDay #protesters were mass arrested and charged with hefty riot and conspiracy felonies for simply being present and wearing black at a rowdy demonstration.
"Since then, the government has sought and failed to convict left-wing activists on thin, unconstitutional claims of collective guilt.
"Just as the J20 prosecutions, as the inauguration cases were known, fell apart, so too did cases accusing dozens of participants in the Atlanta-based #StopCopCity movement of #DomesticTerrorism, #racketeering, and conspiracy.
"It became a pattern of sorts. Prosecutors on both the federal and state level throwing extreme and overreaching charges at leftists, based on infirm theories of collective liability, aiming to paint #antifascist, #AntiRacist movements as criminal terrorist networks. The evidence marshaled in these cases was consistently no more than typical #FirstAmendment-protected activity, like making protest signs, raising bail funds, or being present at a demonstration. The cases drained movement energies and resources.
Again and again, though, they failed."This was the pattern repeated in the malign, overreaching cases against protesters in #FortWorthTX. The #AntiICE activists had mounted a demonstration at a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement jail in nearby #Alvarado.
There were consistencies with other anti-protest cases. There had been some illegal activity outside the #PrairielandDetentionFacility last July, and a police officer was shot. The government latched onto these circumstances to build its strategy of criminalizing dissent through guilt by association."Even in conservative Texas, I didn’t think a jury would buy the government’s case that these defendants were 'North Texas Antifa Cell operatives' — an organization fabricated whole cloth by the Trump administration — who had orchestrated an elaborate ambush of the ICE facility.
" 'Most people looking at this case are still stuck on the shooting aspect, but the jury decided the shooting was beside the point,' a member of a support group for the defendants told me. 'The verdict is that a normal #NoiseDemo deserves to be called terrorism and people should spend potentially the rest of their lives in prison. The implications of this are obvious, and people should know that the DOJ is going to try this again.' "
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/03/17/ice-protester-terrorism-convictions-trump-prairieland/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/uvx92#USPol #DomesticTerrorism #AntiICEProtests #Texas #ResistICE #SilencingDissent #AntiTerrorismLaws
#CriminalizingProtest #Resistance -
How new protest laws are impacting political demonstrations
More than a dozen states have passed laws regulating protests in recent years, raising concerns among free-speech advocates.
By Akilah Johnson,
January 2, 2026Excerpt: "While serving in the Florida state legislature, #RandyFine helped pass legislation that provides some protection under certain circumstances to drivers who hit #protesters blocking #roadways. In Congress, the Republican representative has introduced a similar bill — what he calls the '#ThumpThumpAct' — for drivers who may encounter protesters in other parts of the country.
" 'When the consequences for inappropriate behavior are severe enough, people will stop doing it,' Fine said. 'Blocking roads is a form of political terrorism. They should get run over.'
"Florida is one of more than a dozen states that have cracked down on protests in recent years, passing laws that often equate political demonstrations with riots in ways that #FirstAmendment experts say could be illegal.
"Since 2017, 23 states have passed at least 55 laws to address how and when people can protest, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks such statutes. The laws do such things as mandate at least 30 days in jail for rioting — often loosely defined as a group involved in tumultuous or potentially violent behavior — restrict protests on college campuses, and imprison and fine people who block sidewalks, streets and highways.
"Some lawmakers like Fine want federal legislation that mirrors those efforts. Among the 16 pending federal bills are proposals to tighten restrictions on protesting near federal judges, jurors or court staff; strip #nonprofits of their tax status for certain #protest-related activities; and block people convicted of rioting from small business aid.
"First Amendment advocates warn that the patchwork of state laws, pending federal bills and court battles risk rewriting the rules of public demonstrations. There are already laws to prosecute violent behavior, making these new efforts unnecessary, they say.
There have been few arrests or prosecutions under the recently passed protest laws, but free-speech advocates say the measures can be used to control or dissuade would-be demonstrators." 'What we have consistently seen is lawmakers responding to protest movements by introducing new laws that restrict the #RightToProtest,' said Elly Page, senior legal adviser for U.S. programs at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law."
Read more:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/01/02/anti-protest-laws-randy-fine/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/yyFNm#AntiProtestLaws #USPol #ProtestLaws
#Project2025 #Authoritarianism #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #BlockingTraffic -
#SB743: Steep penalties for #protests near places of worship
Creates sweeping, vaguely-defined new crimes that can cover peaceful protesters near any place where people are engaged in religious worship, or along routes to such places. The new law increases penalties and expands the scope of a preexisting offense for “willfully disturb[ing], interrupt[ing], or disquiet[ing]” an “assemblage of people met for religious worship.” Under the new law it is a serious misdemeanor to knowingly approach someone and engage in certain expressive activity, including chanting or holding signs, within 100 feet of a place where people are meeting for religious worship. The bill explicitly includes such conduct occurring on public sidewalks. As written, the offense could seemingly cover demonstrators who happen to be marching past a church or synagogue and encounter worshippers on the sidewalk outside, even fleetingly. The law also creates a serious misdemeanor for “obstructing in any manner” traffic along any highway within a mile of a place where people are meeting for religious worship. The offense does not require that an individual know or intend to impede access to such a place; as written, it would seemingly cover protest activity that slows highway traffic anywhere within a mile of any house of worship—or any other location where there is an “assemblage of people met for religious worship,” such as a prayer circle in a public park. The offenses are punishable by up to one year in jail and $500 for a first offense; subsequent offenses are a felony subject to up to two years in prison and $1,000. Lawmakers advanced the bill in 2025, but adopted it in emergency sessions in 2026 citing recent protests including one inside a church in St. Paul, MN.
Status: enacted
Introduced 25 Mar 2025; Approved by Senate 27 March 2025; Approved by House 6 May 2025; Approved by Senate 4 February 2026; Signed by Governor Stitt 6 February 2026
Source:
https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/Full text of bill:
https://www.oklegislature.gov/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=sb743&Session=2600#AntiProtestLaws #USPol #ProtestLaws
#Project2025 #Authoritarianism
#Fascism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest -
#NorthDakota - 'Mask bill' passes Senate
By Dave Thompson
Published April 10, 2025"The state Senate has passed a measure that would prohibit someone from wearing a mask or hood with an intent to hide their identity.
The bill – HB 1226 – applies when people commit crimes or gather in public places during a protest."
Source:
https://news.prairiepublic.org/local-news/2025-04-10/mask-bill-passes-senateFrom #USProtestLawTracker:
North Dakota
HB 1226: New criminal penalties for masked protestersCreates a serious new crime that can cover peaceful protesters who choose to wear a mask. The law makes it a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and $3,000, to wear a mask “with the intent to conceal the identity” of the wearer while “congregating in a public place with other individuals wearing a mask, hood, or other device that covers, hides, or conceals any portion of the individual’s face.” The bill exempts public gatherings to celebrate “Halloween, a masquerade, or other similar celebration,” but does not include exemptions for masks worn during protests, or worn for health, religious, or other reasons. As written, the law can cover a protester wearing a mask to avoid retaliation for their political speech, if there are other individuals in the crowd also wearing a mask—for instance, a medical mask to avoid spreading or contracting a contagious disease.
(See full text of bill here)Status: enacted
Introduced 13 Jan 2025; Approved by House 10 February 2025; Approved by Senate 9 April 2025; Signed by Governor Armstrong 23 April 2025
Issue(s): Face Covering
https://www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/
#AntiProtestLaws #USPol #AntiMaskLaws #ProtestLaws #Project2025 #Authoritarianism #Fascism #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest
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Digging up some posts about #AntiProtest laws. I'll also check to see if there are any NEW laws on the books...
#AntiProtestLaws #CriminalizingProtest #SilencingDissent #USPol
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Will #DomesticTerrorism charges be brought against these #AntiICE #protestors?
#ICE enforcement action leads to #protest, violent clashes in #SouthBurlington, #Vermont
by Derek Brouwer, Liam Elder-Connors, Zoe McDonald, March 12, 2026
"A tense, day-long standoff outside a South Burlington, Vermont house ended Wednesday night with federal immigration agents removing three people inside and a series of violent clashes between police and hundreds of #activists who tried to impede the apprehension.
"It marked the first major confrontation between protesters and federal immigration authorities in Vermont. Federal law enforcement deployed #TearGas and #flashbangs on a normally busy street in the state’s second largest city to disperse the activists who had surrounded their vehicles. Roughly 60 local and state law enforcement officers were also on scene, though the departments sought to distance themselves from ICE’s conduct.
"The incident began when a man fled Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had been surveilling a Dorset Street residence where he was staying.
"According to an ICE affidavit, the subject of the warrant was Deyvi Daniel Corona-Sanchez, a Mexico native who was removed from the United States in 2022, and later illegally reentered the country. In January, Corona-Sanchez was arrested by Middlebury police and charged with drunk driving, the affidavit says.
"Following a multi-vehicle crash, Corona-Sanchez escaped to a house on Dorset Street, authorities said.
"A growing number of protesters and police assembled outside throughout the day as immigration authorities waited for a criminal warrant to enter and arrest him.
"A neighbor, Richard Landsman, said an Ecuadoran family with two children had lived in the house for roughly a year. At one point in the afternoon, people helped a child leave the house; they were driven away.
"When the warrant came through after roughly nine hours, federal agents approached the front door with #TacticalGear and weapons drawn. They were supported by #VermontStatePolice troopers.
"Police wrenched away protesters blocking the front entrance and ICE agents broke down the door. Federal agents removed three people from inside, forcing them into an unmarked car. They attempted to drive off, but protesters linked arms and blocked the street. Confrontations ensued, and the agents eventually managed to drive off by running over a median and exiting via a driveway."
#ResistICE #SilencingDissent #AntiTerrorismLaws #CriminalizingProtest #Resistance #USPol #VTPol #ACAB
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Britain's High Court says government acted illegally in outlawing #protest group #PalestineAction
By Jill Lawless
LONDON (AP) — "Britain’s High Court ruled Friday that the government’s decision to outlaw the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was unlawful, but it kept the ban in place pending another hearing while the government prepares an appeal.
"Judges Victoria Sharp, Jonathan Swift and Karen Steyn said 'the nature and scale of Palestine Action’s activities' did not meet the 'level, scale and persistence' that would justify proscription.
"The judges said they were 'satisfied that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.'
"The government banned Palestine Action after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base in June to protest British military support for Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in #Gaza, which killed tens of thousands of #Palestinians.
"The government declared the pro-Palestinian direct-action group a terrorist organization alongside the likes of al-Qaida and Hamas, making membership in or support for Palestine Action a crime punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since then, more than 2,700 people have been arrested at protests for holding signs saying 'I support Palestine Action.' Almost 700 have been charged under the Terrorism Act, although no one has yet been convicted.' "
https://apnews.com/article/britain-palestine-action-high-court-2fbb7f5e2e090881193b9328323d2ec4
#LockUpWarCriminals NOT #Activists!
#UKPol #WorldPol #TerrorismAct #IsraeliWarCrimes #FreeGaza #BibiIsAWarCriminal #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #AntiProtestLaws -
So, all those individual state #AntiProtestLaws are looking like the national standard now. #EnvironmentalActivists are the next target of the #TrumpRegime, which you knew was coming. And it isn't just in the #US... Similar laws are being pushed or have been passed in the #UK, #Australia, etc. The #CIA authored #JapanSecrecyAct was just the beginning...
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🚨 We all knew this would be coming... Don't like polluters? TOUGH SHIT! You're under arrest!!!
#FBI #Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a #ClimateActivist — Then Showed Up at His Door
The visit suggests a possible FBI probe into #ExtinctionRebellionNYC as the Trump administration increases surveillance of #activist groups.
Jacqueline Sweet, February 12 2026
Excerpt: "Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, at least one of whom works on counterterrorism, went to the home of a former member of a #ClimateActivism group for questioning last week, potentially signaling a new escalation in the Trump administration’s promise to criminalize #nonprofits and #ActivistGroups as #DomesticTerrorists.
"Two FBI agents, one from New York’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, told a former member of Extinction Rebellion NYC they wanted to ask him about the group at his home upstate on Friday, an attorney for the group told The Intercept. The visit followed a prior attempt to reach him at his old address.
"The FBI’s apparent probe of Extinction Rebellion NYC comes as the Justice Department ramps up its surveillance of activists protesting immigration enforcement and the Trump administration creates secret lists of domestic enemies under Trump’s National Security Presidential #Memorandum7, or #NSPM7." 'I believe this to be a significant escalation of the criminal legal system against #XR and find it very troubling,' said Ron Kuby, the Extinction Rebellion attorney. 'This is usually the way we find out an actual investigation is underway and is often followed by other visits and other actions.'
"The former Extinction Rebellion member, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear for his safety, said that the visit came after a phone call in January from a special agent that he assumed was a scam.
" 'I was skeptical the phone call was really from the FBI, but after I declined to speak with the agent, she said that she was standing outside my door,' he said. She was actually at the activist’s former address, which he said made him additionally dubious. But last week, when the agents showed up at his current address, he said he saw the agent’s business card through his door."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2026/02/12/fbi-counterterror-extinction-rebellion/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/4Nq3X#USPol #ExtinctionRebellion #CriminalizingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #EPAFail #Polluters #Corporatocracy #CorporateColonialism #Oligarchy #EnvironmentalActivists #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #NoMiningWithoutConsent #ResistFascism #Authoritarianism #Fascism #Orwellian #ThoughtCrime #BigBrother #NineteenEightyFour #SilencingDissent #SilencingFreeSpeech #CorporationsAreTheRealTerrorists
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[Podcast] The return of Erik Prince - The comeback of America’s most infamous mercenary
Nov 1st 2025
"Erik Prince, America’s most infamous mercenary, is back.
"Mr Prince rose to prominence during the war on terror as the founder of #Blackwater, a private military company. The firm earned over a billion dollars providing armed personnel to various branches of the US government before becoming implicated in a number of scandals. In 2007 its contractors killed 14 Iraqi civilians, including a nine-year-old child. The massacre made Mr Prince the face of the Iraq fiasco. He sold the company and disappeared from the public eye.
"But in recent months Mr Prince has reemerged. He has popped up in some of the most dangerous, contested places in the world, from Ukraine to Haiti to the DRC. They are places the Trump administration is interested in too.
"For the Weekend Intelligence the Economist’s Africa Correspondent, Tom Gardner, flew to Cape Town to meet with Prince, the mercenary in CEO’s clothing. Prince is defiant after his years in the political wilderness. And he’s spying some big opportunities. The global mercenary business is on the brink of a new boom. States, across Africa and beyond, are fracturing. The international system is fraying. With UN peacekeepers drawing down, from Mali to Congo to Lebanon, mercenaries of different stripes can expect to fill the void."
Read more / listen:
https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2025/11/01/the-return-of-erik-princeArchived version:
https://archive.ph/YYhBY#Blackwater
#ErikPrinceColonialism
#SilencingDissent
#USPol #Project2025 #CriminalizingActivism
#ClimateActivists #NoDAPL #Crapitalism
#Fascism #Trump #ChristoFascist
#CorporateFascism #SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists #Activists #NoDAPL #CriminalizingDissent
#CrackdownOnProtests #AntiProtestLaws #CorporateFascism #CorporateColonialism
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #ErikPrinceColonialism #Academi #TripleCanopy #SilencingDissent #ErikPrinceIsAWarCriminal -
WTF! #Navajo Reporter #MarleyShebala Violently Arrested by #NavajoPolice, After Filing Ethics Complaint on Navajo President #BuuNygren
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, October 16, 2025
WINDOW ROCK, Navajo Nation -- "Navajo Police were sent today to evict Marley Shebala, Dine' Zuni Pueblo reporter, from her home. Marley, 73, screamed in pain as she was arrested by police. Marley had filed an ethics complaint against Navajo President Buu Nygren, and was reporting on the ongoing #corruption in the Navajo tribal government.
" 'I am 73 years old, and they have me handcuffed in my home with my daughter, our Navajo police, to
serve and protect' Marley says, as she continues to livestream. Navajo police used a locksmith to enter her home, before the violent arrest."Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/10/navajo-reporter-marley-shebala.html#Diné #Dineh #ACAB #Journalists #ReaderSupportedNews #Journalism #BuuNygrenSoldOutHisPeople #UraniumMining #NavajoNation #IndigenousNews #SilencingDissent #CoalMining #TrumpSucks #BeautifulCleanCoal #Cancer #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #EnergyFuels
#Dineteh #NukingTheNavajo
#Havasupai #UraniumMines
#EnvironmentalRacism #WhiteMesaMill #NukingTheNavajo #NukingTheUte #Ute #Paiute #Hopi #BidiiRoots #DineCARE #PinyonPlainUraniumMine #AirIsLife #UraniumMine #UraniumTransport #RadioactiveDust #RememberKleeBenally #BigCoal #DishonoringTheMemoryOfKleeBenally
#HaulNo #NoMiningWithoutConsent -
The #PrivatePrison Industry Looks Forward to Soaring Profits Thanks to #Trump’s Budget
The $45 billion for immigration #detention in the "Big, Beautiful Bill" represented a long-sought win for #PrivatePrisons.
by Matt Sledge, July 10 2025
"The private prison industry saw its influence wane under Joe Biden, but it remains dominant in the business of immigration detention. So when President Donald Trump signed the so-called 'Big, Beautiful Bill' on July 4, dedicating $45 billion to immigration detention with a goal to double or triple the population behind bars, it was a huge payoff.
"The victory was in the works for years. A private prison company handed consulting and lobbying gigs to Trump’s allies, its political action committee was the first to max out its donation to Trump, and industry executives had already made plans to reopen shuttered prisons — laying the groundwork for what they promised investors would be an incarceration bonanza.
"In the 2024 election cycle, employees and PACs affiliated with the publicly traded industry behemoths #GEOGroup and CoreCivic contributed overwhelmingly to #Republicans and Trump.
"Republicans received 92 percent of $3.7 million in contributions affiliated with GEO Group and 96 percent of the $785,000 in contributions affiliated with #CoreCivic, according to #OpenSecrets, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group that tracks official disclosures. When Trump won, the two companies gave $500,000 each to his #inaugural committee."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2025/07/10/corecivic-trump-big-beautiful-bill/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/t6cYB#USPol #TrumpSucks #BigUglyBill #BigBeautifulBill #PrisonState #SilencingDissent #IndefiniteDetention #ICE #protesters
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New 'Thought Policing' Bill May Let #Rubio Strip #Passports from #USCitizens Over Political Speech | Common Dreams
Stephen Prager
Sep 13, 2025"#FreeSpeech advocates are sounding the alarm about a bill in the US House of Representatives that they fear could allow Secretary of State #MarcoRubio to strip US citizens of their passports based purely on political speech.
"The bill, introduced by Rep. #BrianMast (R-Fla.), will come up for a hearing on Wednesday. According to The Intercept:
:Mast’s new bill claims to target a narrow set of people. One section grants the secretary of state the power to revoke or refuse to issue passports for people who have been convicted—or merely charged—of material support for terrorism...
"The other section sidesteps the legal process entirely. Rather, the secretary of state would be able to deny passports to people whom they determine 'has knowingly aided, assisted, abetted, or otherwise provided material support to an organization the Secretary has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.'
"Rubio has previously boasted of stripping the visas and green cards from several immigrants based purely on their peaceful expression of #ProPalestine views, describing them as '#Hamas supporters.'
"These include Columbia protest leader #MahmoudKhalil, who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (#ICE) after Rubio voided his green card; and #RumeysaOzturk, the Tufts student whose visa Rubio revoked after she co-wrote an op-ed calling for her school to divest from #Israel.
"Mast—a former soldier for the #IsraelDefenseForces who once stated that babies were 'not innocent Palestinian civilians' — has previously called for 'kicking terrorist sympathizers out of our country,' speaking about the Trump administration’s attempts to deport Khalil, who was never convicted or even charged with support for a terrorist group.
"Critics have argued that the bill has little reason to exist other than to allow the Secretary of State to unilaterally strip passports from people without them actually having been convicted of a crime."
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/rubio-thought-policing-bill#ThoughtPolice #Orwellian #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #FreeMahmoud #FreeRumeysa #WaterProtectors #FreePalestine #LandDefenders #SilencingDissent #Fasicsm #Authoritarianism
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British police arrest 900 people in London over banned group #PalestineAction
By SYLVIA HUI and JILL LAWLESS
September 7, 2025LONDON (AP) — "British police said Sunday that they arrested almost 900 people demonstrating in #London against a ban on the group Palestine Action, which has been deemed a terrorist organization by the government.
"Almost 1,600 people have now been detained, many for silently holding signs supporting the group, since it was outlawed two months ago. #Protesters say the ban on Palestine Action is an unwarranted curb on free speech and the #RightToProtest.
"The Metropolitan Police force said 890 people were arrested at Saturday’s demonstration, the vast majority, 857, under the #TerrorismAct for supporting a proscribed organization. Some 33 were detained for other offenses, including 17 for assaulting police officers.
"#DefendOurJuries, the campaign group organizing the protest, said 1,500 people took part in the demonstration outside Parliament, sitting down and holding signs reading 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.' "
https://apnews.com/article/britain-palestine-action-protest-arrests-b6acca3f6e46cf0fd64ae11d413f5bd8
#FreePalestine #PalestineGenocide #StopTheGenocide #BibiIsAWarCriminal #IsraeliWarCrimes #ACAB #UnjustLaws #AntiProtestLaws #SilencingDissent #FreeSpeech
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U.K. Police Arrest Another 100 for Supporting Banned Group #PalestineAction via @democracynow
#FreePalestine #SilencingFreeSpeech #SilencingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #AntiProtestLawsUK
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Former #Greens candidate may lose sight after being arrested in #SydneyAustralia #protest at alleged #Israel technology supplier
Hannah Thomas, who ran against Anthony Albanese in the Sydney electorate of Grayndler, sustained facial injuries
Henry Belot, Fri 27 Jun 2025
"A former Greens candidate has been injured after allegedly resisting police arrest while picketing a business in Sydney’s west, with friends and family warned she may lose sight in her right eye.
"The protest, which attracted between 50 and 60 people, sought to stop pedestrian access to a business that was accused by protesters of 'supplying electroplating and surface coating services for a variety of applications including aerospace and defence technology' to Israel.
"The #Greens alleged the company was reportedly 'involved in providing plating services for various parts used in #F35 jets' used by the #IsraeliMilitary.
"According to police, officers issued a move-on direction to the protesters at about 5.30am on Friday.
"The force alleged the protest was 'unauthorised', as those involved had not given advanced notice nor submitted a #form that protected them from being charged under #AntiProtestLaws."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/JSDu0#selection-1359.0-1434.0#ACAB #ExcessiveUseOfForce #FailureToComply #Bureaucracy #AntiProtestLawsAustralia #SilencingFreeSpeech #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #IsraeliWarCrimes #BibiIsAWarCriminal #FreePalestine #NoWar
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#VictoriaAustralia’s draconian new #AntiProtest laws will have a chilling effect on #FreeSpeech — and won’t keep anyone safe
Far-reaching anti-protest measures and giving police more repressive powers only serve to increase the risk of escalating violence.
by Sarah Schwartz, Jul 9, 2025
"In response to the weekend’s attack on the East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced she will forge ahead with new anti-protest measures and more #police powers.
"In doing so, she is following what has become the new normal for state governments across the country: using acts of racism and violence as a pretext to #ClampDown on unrelated democratic rights.
"Taking to the streets in peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to come together and express our political views when our representatives aren’t listening to us. But this right is not without limits. Every person has a right to worship in safety. The attack on East Melbourne Synagogue was not a protest; it was an act of antisemitism. The suspect has been apprehended and charged with a multitude of criminal offences.
"Two other incidents over the weekend, the targeting of a business with ties to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation — a US-backed #Israeli organisation linked to the massacres of unarmed #Palestinians seeking aid — and a weapons company with links to the Israeli military, are also being referred to as justifying new laws. It is important not to conflate these actions against Israel with an attack against a Jewish place of worship. International human rights law, as well as our current laws, already place limits on protests that involve intimidation and violence.
"So what is actually being proposed in response? The Allan government is suggesting the creation of a new criminal offence for wearing a #FaceCovering at peaceful protests, banning 'dangerous attachment devices' (e.g. a #chain, a #BikeLock) — which have long been used in non-violent civil disobedience — and #criminalising peaceful protests around places of religious worship.
"The ban on face coverings would be a first in #Australia. It would mirror measures used in #authoritarian states that force people to submit themselves to various forms of #StateSurveillance.
"#VictoriaPolice has been using facial recognition software for years without any regulatory or legislative framework to prevent breaches of privacy. This technology, combined with a ban on face coverings at protests, would essentially amount to an obligation on behalf of individuals to submit to surveillance by the state, corporations and other groups that surveil protesters.
"Unless you’re a #MiningCompany spending hundreds of millions buying politicians’ favour or can wine and dine decision-makers, peaceful protest is one of the main ways for people to hold governments and corporations to account. Protests for the eight-hour workday, #WomensRights, #FirstNationsRights and the #AntiWar movement have led to significant improvements in all of our lives.
Know something?"Many people attending protests wear face coverings to protect their privacy and anonymity. For temporary migrants, the consequences of identification can include visa cancellation and detention. #FarRight groups, abusers of gender-based violence and other political groups have all been documented as engaging in doxing, surveillance and retaliatory violence against people identified at peaceful protests.
"Even with exemptions, a ban would mean that people who wear facemasks for reasons of health, disability status, or religious or cultural reasons would be at risk of police targeting and made to justify their use of a face mask.
"Adding new repressive police powers against peaceful protesters only serves to increase the risk of escalating violence at already heightened public demonstrations. People will not stop taking to the streets on issues they care about, even if the state tries to stifle their voices. Donald #Trump’s deployment of the #NationalGuard in response to protests in LA shows us how deploying more state force at protests increases rather than decreases the risk of violence.
"A ban on protests outside or within a certain proximity to places of worship would mean police could arrest those engaging in peaceful protests for a genuine, non-discriminatory purpose — for example, protests by survivors of #ClergySexualAbuse or by congregants against the political activities of their own religious institutions.
"It would also have the unintended consequence of rendering large areas of the state no-go zones for peaceful protest, due to the high number of places of worship. Similar laws in #NSW are already being challenged for their #unconstitutionality.
"Taken together, this suite of laws, which would provide police with extraordinary powers against people peacefully raising their voices against #injustice, would have a chilling effect, deterring #MarginalisedGroups from attending protests and exercising their rights to freedom of expression, which the Victorian government has sought to protect.
"Ultimately, banning face coverings at peaceful protests and banning protests outside places of worship would not have done anything to prevent what occurred over the weekend. Premier Allan knows this. Yet she is stuck in the same reactive law-and-order merry-go-round that saw NSW Premier Chris Minns enact fear-based, repressive anti-protest measures in response to what we now know was an opportunistic criminal conspiracy.
"Encouraging people to express their political views peacefully is the antidote to non-peaceful forms of protest and is something that all governments should be encouraging and facilitating. At times like this, we should be able to trust our politicians not to fuel division and panic through misguided and knee-jerk responses, but to take measures to address the root causes of racism and hatred."
#AntiProtestLaws #ProtestLawsAustralia #ACAB #SilencingFreeSpeech #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism
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YIKES! Please read and share this!
via @UnicornRiot
"We’ve been forced to spend around $55,000 to date because of Energy Transfer’s legal campaign against our freedom of the press.
"We’ve only raised back $38,916 of this so far.
"Your donation helps us keep operating despite corporate attempts to silence us"
https://donorbox.org/unicorn-riot-nodapl-legal-defense
#EnergyTransfer #SLAPPs #NoDAPL #WaterIsLife #MutualAid #LegalDefenseFund #SilencingDissent #Resistance #CorporateColonialism #Oiligarchy #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #Authoritarianism #EnergyTransfer #StandWithStandingRock #StandingRockSioux #IndigenousResistance #IndigenousAllies #DAPL #NorthDakota #StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPsLawsuits #FossilFuel #BigOilAndGas #Academi #ErikPrince #Blackwater #ACAB #PrivateSecurity #BigOil #KelcyWarren #Oiligarchy #WaterProtectors #CorporateFascism #StandingRockReservation
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Defendants in Georgia ‘Cop City’ case say they are in limbo as trial delays continue
By R.J. RICO
Updated 12:26 AM EDT, May 12, 2025ATLANTA (AP) — "Single mother Priscilla Grim lost her job. Aspiring writer Julia Dupuis frequently stares at the bedroom ceiling, numb. Geography and environmental studies researcher Hannah Kass is worried about her career prospects after she graduates from her Ph.D. program.
"The three are among 61 defendants accused by Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr of participating in a yearslong racketeering conspiracy to halt the construction of a police and firefighter training facility just outside Atlanta that critics pejoratively call 'Cop City.'
"Their cases are at a standstill, 20 months after being indicted under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law, or RICO, which is likely the largest criminal racketeering case ever filed against protesters in U.S. history, experts say.
"Trial for five of the defendants was supposed to start last year but got bogged down in procedural issues. The judge overseeing the case then moved to another court. A new judge has set a status hearing for Wednesday.
"The delays have left people in limbo, facing charges carrying up to 20 years behind bars for what they maintain was #LegitimateProtest, not #DomesticTerrorism. The case also has suppressed a movement that brought together hundreds of #activists to protect a wooded patch of land that ultimately was razed for the recently completed $118 million, 85-acre (34-hectare) project.
"Officials say the project is sorely needed to replace outdated facilities and boost officers’ morale. Opponents say it will be a training ground for a #MilitarizedPolice force and its construction has worsened #environmental damage in a poor, majority-Black area.
"Protests escalated after the fatal 2023 shooting of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, known as #Tortuguita, who was camping near the site when authorities launched a clearing operation. Officials said they killed Tortuguita, 26, after the activist shot and wounded a trooper from inside a tent.
"A family-commissioned autopsy concluded Tortuguita was killed with their hands in the air, but a prosecutor found the officers’ use of force was 'objectively reasonable.' "
Read more:
https://apnews.com/article/cop-city-rico-charges-61-atlanta-be5ef1ed1951a73870656f61fbbc567b#ACAB #StopCopCityQueens #StopCopCitiesEverywhere #JusticeForTort #USPol #StopCopCity #WeelauneeForest #DefendTheForest #CopCity #SilencingDissent #CiminalizingDissent #MilitarizedPolice
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#StandingRock Chair on #Greenpeace Verdict -- False, Self-serving Narrative in Insulting Lawsuit
"If Greenpeace can be held liable for telling the truth about #SiouxNation Treaty rights, then we are all in trouble."
By Standing Rock Chairwoman Janet Alkire, via #CensoredNews, March 27, 2025
"As Chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, I take offense to the jury verdict in the #EnergyTransfer #SLAPP lawsuit against Greenpeace. We expect more from #NorthDakota judges and members of the jury from our neighboring communities.
"#EnergyTransfer’s claims in this case were ridiculous. They were wholly disrespectful of the #StandingRockSioux Tribe, our ancestors, and our youth, who started the movement in 2016 to protect our water from an oil spill from #DAPL. Neither Greenpeace nor anyone else paid or persuaded Standing Rock to oppose DAPL.
"Our young people and our elders urged us to protect our water and #UnciMakah (grandmother earth). That is what happened, and is happening still. Energy Transfer’s false and self-serving narrative that Greenpeace manipulated Standing Rock into protesting DAPL is patronizing and disrespectful to our people.
"We understand that many Morton County residents support the #OilIndustry, even out-of-state #pipeline companies such as Energy Transfer. But we are your neighbors, and you should not be fooled that easily. Energy Transfer does not know us. They don’t know who we are – an Indigenous Nation that has survived every attack because our ancestors are with us.
"Greenpeace did not manipulate Standing Rock, but #EnergyTransfer has manipulated #MortonCounty. DAPL crosses our Treaty and aboriginal land for hundreds of miles.
"Our ancestors occupied this land for thousands of years before #NorthDakota came into existence. The land between the Heart and Missouri River are our #unceded Treaty lands under the 1868 and 1851 Fort Laramie Treaties. Our aboriginally-occupied territories extend east to the James River and beyond. That is a historical truth. If Greenpeace can be held liable for telling the truth about Sioux Nation Treaty rights, then we are all in trouble."The construction of Fort Rice on our northern boundary in 1864 was a violation of the Fort Laramie Treaties. This required our Tribe to be vigilant. No one should be surprised that warrior society burials are found in this area, near the pipeline route.
"And do not insult our cultural experts, who have wisdom over matters most residents of Morton County or bureaucrats at the State Historical Society know absolutely nothing about. Energy Transfer and its lawyers should be ashamed of themselves. Everyday North Dakotans on the jury should know better.
"When it comes to the excessive police and private security response to the generally peaceful protests at #CannonBall, believe your eyes. The scenes of guard dogs menacing Tribal members are reminiscent of the violence of #WhiteSupremacists in the #DeepSouth during the 1950’s and 60’s, but it was in North Dakota, in this day and age. It was on the news and on the internet.
"Many of the protesters were Native American veterans of the United States armed forces. Energy Transfer used attack dogs against peaceful protesters and war heroes. But the jury sided with the out-of-state, unlicensed security with the attack dogs, instead of North Dakota veterans who supported Standing Rock.
"A Texas oil company has come to North Dakota, and its lawyers and propaganda machine are weaving stories about how the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and our supporters have lied, and how the poor pipeline company, a trillion dollars richer than in 2016 when this all started, should receive extra millions from non-profit organizations. It’s a funny thing about liars – they always accuse everyone else of lying. The Greenpeace trial was marked by secrecy.
"The court is not making the transcript public. The documents obtained by Greenpeace about Energy Transfer’s terrible safety record are protected by a secrecy order and are not available to the public. The judge exhibited so much bias in favor of Energy Transfer that a team of international human rights lawyers felt compelled to monitor the trial. One prominent monitor stated 'In my six decades of legal practice, I have never witnessed a trial as unfair as the one against Greenpeace that just ended in the courts of North Dakota.'
"Standing Rock has tried to work for greater transparency on DAPL. It is our experience with the Army Corps of Engineers and Energy Transfer that all documents relating to DAPL pipeline safety are heavily redacted, and kept secret. What are they hiding? Who is looking out for the communities that may be affected by an oil spill? And why didn’t the North Dakota court allow Greenpeace to address these questions at the trial?
"DAPL is a dangerous pipeline. It crosses our unceded Treaty and aboriginal land. Energy Transfer destroyed Tribal burials as identified by our cultural experts, and committed violence against our people. That is the history that North Dakota and Morton County must reckon with. After the Greenpeace verdict, that day seems farther off than ever."Source:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/03/standing-rock-chair-on-greenpeace.html
#StandWithStandingRock #SLAPPsLawsuits #SLAPPs #FossilFuel #BigOilAndGas #Academi #EricPrince #Blackwater #ACAB #PrivateSecurity #BigOil #KelcyWarren #Oiligarchy #CorporateColonialism #WaterProtectors #StevenDonziger #EnvironmentalRacism #ReaderSupportedNews #CorporateFascism #SilencingDissent #StandingRockReservation -
#UNH drops charges against 7 out of 12 people arrested during #ProPalestine #protests
By Jeremy Margolis, Concord Monitor
Published August 1, 2024"A University of New Hampshire prosecutor this week dropped criminal charges against seven of the people arrested during a May 1 pro-#Palestine protest after they reportedly accepted plea agreements.
"The seven cases were dismissed nearly three months after UNH police charged 12 people with disorderly conduct and trespassing, nine of whom were set to be arraigned in Dover District Court on Wednesday.
"The agreements involved 30 hours of community service and a period under which the arrestees must remain in 'good public standing', according to Adeena Ahsan, a UNH graduate student who was not arrested but had been in communication with those offered plea deals.
"UNH prosecutor #FrankWeeks [who is also a police captain] declined to comment on the nature of the plea deals.
"Of the other five people arrested, charges had already been dropped against a 'counter-protester' after a friend of his emailed then-President of UNH James Dean that he had been 'mistaken for a protester,' according to a report from the Boston Globe.
"Cases remain pending against the other four, including against two students who are also facing assault charges. One of them, 21-year-old rising UNH senior #AidanTurner, has said he was mistakenly identified and then violently #arrested by Weeks, the UNH prosecutor who is also a police captain. His case is currently set to go to trial on Sept. 10.
"The other, 29-year-old graduate student #SebastianRowan, has been charged with two counts each of assault on a police officer and #ResistingArrest. His case is currently before a grand jury with an indictment decision expected by Aug. 21, according to court records.
"The other two people – 21-year-old #JasonPerra and 19-year-old #LoganONeill – have trials scheduled for October 2 and 9, respectively. Both have been charged with criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct. It was not immediately clear whether they had been offered a plea deal or not."
#ACAB #NewHampshire #FreePalestine #PoliceBrutality #SilencingDissent #CriminalizingDissent #CivilDisobedience #StudentsForPalestine