I don't expect anyone to believe this at face value as this is an anonymous post and it is not my first hand experience. This happened to a co-worker/friend of mine.

We are not hiding behind anonymity just to stir the sh** storm. We do not want to experience any "repercussions."

This happened yesterday (December 1) in Seattle, at curfew.

We work at a building with an attached parking garage. My friend went into the garage to get his car and park it in front of our building. Then he was going back into the building to grab his stuff, throw it in the car, and get out of the area.

As he parked in front and got out, he noticed a band of masked protesters coming down the street. The media has reported that violent incidents have been started by these "Masked Marauders."

He went inside to alert the security guard that there might be a problem if these guys wanted to smash windows, spray graffiti, etc.

When they went outside the masked protesters were gone. My friend thought that they might have gone into the parking garage.

When they walked into the garage they saw the "protesters."

They saw the men taking off their shirts and masks. Underneath were police uniforms.

They unmasked cops waved to them

My friend got the hell out of there.

---

Back in the late 60's I was interviewed by a couple of FBI agents because of a paperwork screw-up about my draft status.

Two weeks later at an anti-war rally I saw them dressed as "civilians" trying to start a confrontation.

It isn't hard to do a little research and discover that agent provocateurs have been used over and over in order to infiltrate and discredit any "unfavorable" faction.

---

The Nation Guard was called into Seattle after the violent incidents started by the Masked Marauders during the WTO protests.

It doesn't take a huge leap of imagination to see that Y2K disruption caused incidents may turn into violent confrontations sparked by agent provocateurs. This is the trigger to bring about martial law.

-- Fractal (bobalex@silverlink.net), December 02, 1999

Answers

Just a guess, but maybe the cops were doing a bit of "undercover" work. Sounds like a good way to catch bad guys - they could just walk right up to looters unnoticed then bust them.

Sounds like a good idea to me.

-- Clyde (clydeblalock@hotmail.com), December 02, 1999.

You are absolutely right about this. I've read other reports confirming the reality about the 'thugs'. Hey, crime is a big business, and the idiots in charge need a reason to justify rigging up the police to look like Awnold.

-- so (so@so.so), December 02, 1999.

I find myself wondering these days if it is not past time to put this forum down as one would do for an ill dog that had outlived it's usefull days.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), December 02, 1999.

Its interesting to note that none of these "Masked Marauders" were ever arrested, even though they were easily identifiable and there were hundreds of police on the scene. Simply incredible.

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), December 02, 1999.

I find myself wondering these days if it is not past time to put this forum down as one would do for an ill dog that had outlived it's usefull days.

This forum is just as useful as it's always been. But if you don't like it here, Unc, nobody's forcing you to stay.

-- (brett@miklos.org), December 02, 1999.

Good point.

Seeya.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), December 02, 1999.

Go to my website and click through to "Organized Crime, Part One." In this essay is a quote from J. Edgar, a May '68 memo I found in The Yankee and Cowboy War by Oglesby, where JEH blatantly calls for agents to force illegal actions.

-- johno (jobriy2k@yahoo.com), December 02, 1999.

i'm horrified watching the police, dressed like harmfull goons "a la gestapo" treat citizens excercising their 1st. ammendment rights like rabid dogs. granted, some may have broken the law/property, but i wonder if this was initiated by their criminal nature or by the frustration of being confronted by the goon squads with an attitude..... this type of police action, dress and attitude engenders revolt, period. normally uniformed cops should have been the front line, with the goons kept away, but ready. normal cops represent law and order.goon dressed cops represent ready to rumble...and rumble they did. fellow americans, if the government is going to plow over the 1st. ammendment, then the 2nd. ammendment kicks in for the citizens to protect themselves from such govenment. Don't kid yourselves, we are a tolerant nation like no other but when we see hard working american taxpayes treated like criminals, with a boot on their face, we revolt and raise hell if necessary to restore freedom from intrusive, exploitative government. i hope they do prosecute the looters and criminals in the crowd, but i also hope we prosecute the police abuses to the demonstrators that did not loot nor committed crimes. in the end, the global wpo keeps on the road to a global government, global religion, global monetary policy and currency, etc. and little by little we loose america, its identity, its freedom and return to a quality slavehood that we can all put up with. a man that does not believe in something he's willing to die for, is not fit to live.Martin Luther King.

God bless

jorge.

-- jorge del valle (intlplastics@mindspring.com), December 02, 1999.

Uncle Deedah, don't go yet please. I've been here a long time,and I don't see you quite as much as I used to.You've provided this forum with a lot of good info,and I,for one,wish you would stick around for awhile (at least another 29 days :) ) Don't let some of the newbies get under your skin, if they had a lick o'sense they'd have been here before now! All the best though, if you're callin' it a day.God Bless.

on de rock

-- Walter (on de rock@northrock.bm), December 02, 1999.

The media reports we got here in Central Arizona stated that the "Black dressed black ski masked marauders" worked the breaking of windows in a "methodical and disciplined" manner...not exactly compatible with "spontaneous violence."

COINTELPRO lives!!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), December 02, 1999.

>> It isn't hard to do a little research and discover that agent provocateurs have been used over and over in order to infiltrate and discredit any "unfavorable" faction. <<

One notorious case from the Vietnam war era was an agent provacateur called Tommy the Traveler, who not only drew pay as an FBI informer, but he also supplied the explosives to the college students that got arrested. During the trial, the students testified that Tommy was constantly badgering them to adopt more violent methods of protest, and had been the one who pushed them in the direction of bomb-making.

Some reporters got on the case and dug up information to the effect that Tommy the Traveler had pulled the same stunt several other times on other campuses, all with FBI blessings.

Just a footnote from history. This one is documented. Yours may or may not be.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), December 02, 1999.

They are called Red squads and most large cities have them.

-- Ed (ed@lizzardranch.com), December 02, 1999.

I got to the part where the alleged provocateurs took their costumes off, and just started laughing...

Even if Seattle cops, or cops in general, were so moronic that they'd actually *wear* their police uniforms under agent provocateur costumes in the middle of a riot (one guy trips once, his shirt flies up, and the game is over, right there on international TV and the Internet), this is completely impossible.

Messenger uniforms and cop uniforms are two totally different types of work garb. One's made with aerodynamics and body heat in mind, the other's made with durability in the face of violence, drunkeness, and endless washings to get blood, puke, dirt, oil and everything else you can get on work clothes when you have to arrest people all day out.

Messenger clothes tend to be light and compact. Police clothes are heavy weave, and bear lots of bulky pockets and compartments for carrying random shit.

You could wear a messenger outfit under a police uniform and get away with it. You couldn't possibly wear a police uniform under a messenger outfit and not have everybody know you were wearing some kind of service uniform underneath--the clothes also conform to a standard cut for civil service uniforms. Cops, national guardsmen, janitors or those guys who wave little red lights at planes-- everybody would know *somebody* was dressing up as anarchists, even watching a little tiny Real video clip on a web site.

Said hypothetical cop/anarchists would also have an awfully hard time moving quickly or even naturally, having packed their already-weighty outfits into what would amount to a sausage casing. They'd jerk around as they walked, have trouble lifting their arms, and generally look like Frankenstein.

The idiot may as well have claimed that the "anarchists" took their clothes and masks off, and underneath, they were suited-up shuttle astronauts. Hey, NASA's involved, here! Call David Duchovny!

Never mind the fact that the Eugene folks haven't been particularly shy about what they intended to do...there are umpteen interviews and pieces from "before the fact" (see the Salon piece from the beginning of this week, for instance, on the preparations for the WTO meetings, published Tuesday, before the shit started-- http://www.salonmagazine.com/news/feature/1999/11/30/protest/index.htm l) pointing out their inclusion in the protests, including their stated goal of fucking things up, etc. I believe they've been equally demure since in the press, as well.

--Robert

-- V-X (vx@ungh.com), December 03, 1999.