Aug 24, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Excerpted from Buzz Feed: Activists in Tampa and elsewhere planning to protest the coming political conventions say that the recent news stories about an alleged anarchist plot to disrupt the conventions bear little resemblance to the reality of what’s planned.
“It’s totally bogus,” said Kelly Benjamin, a Tampa activist who’s played a large role in organizing protests for the RNC and in Occupy Tampa. “They’re doing everything they can to create a climate of fear in Tampa.”
“It’s just old school fearmongering,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said that events will include an anti-voter suppression march, a “One Percent Kickoff Party” at Tropicana Field on Sunday, and two marches on Tuesdays.
The city of Tampa has estimated that 15,000 activists will protest during the convention. CNN published parts of an FBI memo that predicted that anarchists could try to blow up explosives in Tampa, block roads and bridges, initiate violent confrontations with police, and that several people from New York were planning to travel to Tampa and try to close all of the city’s bridges.
“Demonizing anarchists and other folks who may choose to employ resistance tactics like unpermitted marches, sit-ins, bridge/intersection blockades, self-defense against police violence and property damage happens during every election cycle before the conventions,” said Chris Longenecker, a New York anarchist involved with the Occupy movement, via email.
