The Crackdown on Dissent
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The Crackdown on Dissent. NOW looks at November’s Miami protests and their aftermath to examine whether law enforcement was maintaining order or abusing power.
NOW with Bill Moyers
PBS Airdate: Friday, February 27, 2004 at 9 p.m. on PBS
(check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html)
At this year’s Republican Convention scheduled for late summer in New York City, protestors expect hundreds of thousands on the streets. How is the government preparing to handle massive dissent? Disturbing clues have emerged in what happened at a trade conference in Miami last November where hundreds of protesters were detained, searched, and some seriously injured in violent clashes with police. While official Miami hailed the event as a model for "homeland security," others called it a preemptive strike on dissent and an assault on civil liberties. NOW takes a hard look at the protests and their aftermath to examine whether law enforcement was maintaining order or abusing power. As other cities turn to Miami for examples of how to police their major events, the segment asks, were they protecting the public or serving special interests?
