[Dialogue] The White House Has a Manual for Silencing Protesters and Demonstrations

Mon Jul 16 20:17:22 EDT 2007

AlterNet

The White House Has a Manual for Silencing Protesters and Demonstrations

By Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive
Posted on July 14, 2007, Printed on July 16, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/56528/

So the truth comes out.

After a myriad of stories about people being excluded from events where the
President is speaking, now we know that the White House had a policy manual
on just how to do so.

Called the "Presidential Advance Manual," this 103-page document from the
Office of Presidential Advance lays out the parameters for how to handle
protesters at events.

"Always be prepared for demonstrators," says the document, which is dated
October 2002 and which the ACLU released
<http://www.alternet.org/module/printversion/www.aclu.org/freespeech/protest
/silenced.html>  as part of a new lawsuit. 

In a section entitled "Preventing Demonstrators," the document says: "All
Presidential events must be ticketed or accessed by a name list. This is the
best method for preventing demonstrators. People who are obviously going to
try to disrupt the event can be denied entrance at least to the VIP area
between the stage and the main camera platform. ... It is important to have
your volunteers at a checkpoint before the Magnetometers in order to stop a
demonstrator from getting into the event. Look for signs they may be
carrying, and if need be, have volunteers check for folded cloth signs that
demonstrators may be bringing."

In another section, entitled "Preparing for Demonstrators," the document
makes clear that the intention is to deprive protesters of the right to be
seen or heard by the President: "As always, work with the Secret Service and
have them ask the local police department to designate a protest area where
demonstrators can be placed, preferably not in view of the event site or
motorcade route."

The document also recommends drowning out protesters or blocking their signs
by using what it calls "rally squads." It states: "These squads should be
instructed always to look for demonstrators. The rally squad's task is to
use their signs and banners as shields between the demonstrators and the
main press platform. If the demonstrators are yelling, rally squads can
begin and lead supportive chants to drown out the protestors (USA!, USA!,
USA!). As a last resort, security should remove the demonstrators from the
event site."

The document offered advice on how to recruit members for such squads: "The
rally squads can include, but are not limited to, college/young republican
organizations, local athletic teams, and fraternities/sororities."

The document does contain a warning in bold, however: "Remember -- avoid
physical contact with demonstrators." It also advises to make sure that
whatever action is taken to drown out the demonstrators does not "cause more
negative publicity than if the demonstrators were simply left alone." 

Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive. 

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