NC Renegades

Early on, the scene outside City Hall was largely peaceful, but it was a different story a few blocks west on Washington Street. Officers in riot gear hemmed in protesters around 6 p.m. and attempted to arrest one person, as about 50 more surrounded them shouting, “Let him go, let him go.”

Protesters threw turquoise and red paint at the riot police officers’ faces and helmets. Some led the crowd in chanting, “This is why we call you pigs.”

Others pleaded with the agitators to be peaceful and return to the march, yet some protesters tried to fight with police and were clubbed and kicked in return.

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Police gave repeated warnings to protesters to disperse from the entrance to Frank Ogawa Plaza at 14th Street and Broadway before firing several tear gas canisters into the crowd at about 7:45 p.m. Police had announced over a loudspeaker that those who refused to leave could be targeted by “chemical agents.”

Protesters scattered in both directions on Broadway as the tear gas canisters and several flash bang grenades went off.

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Some protesters who avoided conflict and wanted to show their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement were displeased by the violent turns.

“They didn’t have to force police into that situation,” said Helen Walker, 46, a nurse from Albany. “It was totally provoked, and if I could have, I would have stopped those idiots from throwing paint.”

… 

Some protesters who avoided conflict and wanted to show their support for the Occupy Wall Street movement were displeased by the violent turns.

“They didn’t have to force police into that situation,” said Helen Walker, 46, a nurse from Albany. “It was totally provoked, and if I could have, I would have stopped those idiots from throwing paint.”

From ProPublica:

A proposed rule to the Freedom of Information Act would allow federal agencies to tell people requesting certain law-enforcement or national security documents that records don’t exist – even when they do.

Under current FOIA practice, the government may withhold information and issue what’s known as a Glomar denial that says it can neither confirm nor deny the existence of records.

The new proposal – part of a lengthy rule revision by the Department of Justice – would direct government agencies to “respond to the request as if the excluded records did not exist.”

 Open-government groups object.

We don’t believe the statute allows the government to lie to FOIA requesters,” said Mike German, senior policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the provision.

The ACLU, along with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and OpenTheGovernment.org said the move would “dramatically undermine government integrity by allowing a law designed to provide public access to government to be twisted.

Read the whole thing here.