US puts right to protest at risk: "'The government's action is unprecedented - prosecuting an entire organisation for the expressive activities of its supporters,' he said. If it succeeded, he said: 'Non-violent civil protest - an essential tradition from colonial times to the modern civil rights movement - may become yet another casualty of [the attorney general] John Ashcroft's attack on civil liberties.
'Two hundred and thirty years ago American protesters boarded ships over objectionable cargo,' he said. 'It was called the Boston Tea Party, and it was critical to focusing colonists' objections to British rule... If such limited protests against commercial ships are banned, then acts of protest in malls, universities and public plazas will be next.' "
- posted by geoff @ #