Legal observers monitor protests

Alongside the expected hundreds of thousands of President George W. Bush’s supporters and… Alongside the expected hundreds of thousands of President George W. Bush’s supporters and critics, thousands of trained legal observers attended the inauguration.

Legal observers follow protesters and activists who wish to express their views — a right protected under the first amendment of the Constitution, which grants freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to peaceable assembly and freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances. An observer’s primary job at a demonstration is to watch and record the actions of the police, as records about any incidents might be helpful in later court proceedings.

Across Washington, D.C., as the inauguration pageantry ensued, police manned a dozen checkpoints to track the protesters and split up the demonstrations, according to Josiah Groff of the National Lawyers Guild.

“Our job as legal observers will be to man the checkpoints, as the police search demonstrators, to make sure no one’s constitutional rights are being violated and to make sure a person is not violated because of their political views,” Groff said before the inauguration.

As many as 100 legal observers monitored checkpoints during the inauguration, while other observers were on hand to offer “jail support” to anyone who had been arrested, making sure that people were not being lost in the police system.

Legal observers consist of teams of full-time employees and volunteers from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Lawyers Guild and numerous other organizations. Legal observer teams work at demonstrations to deter police brutality by their very presence.

Observers take note of the various types of police methods employed to intimidate demonstrators, including charging crowds using riot gear armor, aiming canisters of tear gas and pepper spray at crowds, using batons or verbally threatening protesters.

To control demonstrators, police might also display force to deter the assembly or deny access to public spaces such as parks and sidewalks. Legal observers monitor for any behavior that appears to restrict peaceful demonstrators’ abilities to express their political views.

Observers can also work to aid demonstrators who are arrested unexpectedly or help those in need of medical attention by coordinating the appropriate supporting teams.

Many legal observer groups sprang out of the March 2000 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, where residents and activists watched as police attempted to shut down the city for the duration of the four-day demonstration. The shutdown included an expansive “no-protest zone,” a curfew, thousands of police and national guardsmen in riot gear, and mass arrests.

Galvanized by what was thought to be an attack on constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, groups such as the Midnight Special Law Collective worked to free the 600 activists arrested on misdemeanor charges. Only six eventually reached a trial, and, in the end, only one was convicted.

Legal observers represent themselves as observers of the police and media organizations, and not as activists or representatives of the demonstration. They are often approached by police attempting to control the crowd, but they are committed to observing police action and cannot involve themselves in conflict resolution.