Austin Activist Infiltrated RNC Protest Groups

Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant, wearing recording devices. He is expected to testify on behalf of the http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=6380 later this month.

A prominent Austin-based activist named Brandon Darby has revealed he worked as an FBI informant in the eighteen months leading up to the Republican convention. Darby has admitted to wearing recording devices at planning meetings and wearing a transmitter embedded in his belt during the convention. He is expected to testify on behalf of the government later this month in the trial of two Texas activists who were arrested at the RNC on charges of making and possessing Molotov http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=6201.

In a statement, a group of Austin-based activists called the Austin Informant Working Group condemned Darby. The group says, “[The emerging truth about Darby’s malicious involvement in our communities is heart-breaking and utterly ground-shattering to those of us who were closest to him.”

The statement goes on to raise suspicions Darby may have gone http://wvwnews.net/story.php?id=2497 on the accused activists but in fact encouraged and provoked them into breaking the law.But in an open letter to the activist community, Darby maintained he only acted to prevent violent actions by a small group that he says would have undermined the cause of social justice. Darby writes, “I strongly stand behind my choices in this matter… [When people act out of anger and hatred, and then claim that their actions were part of a movement or somehow tied into the struggle for social justice only after being caught, it’s damaging to the efforts of those who do give of themselves to better this world. The majority of the activists who went to St. Paul did so with pure intentions and simply wanted to express their disagreements with the Republican Party. It’s unfortunate that some used the group as cover for intentions that the rest of the group did not agree with or knew nothing about… I have confidence that there will be a few people interested in discussion and in better understanding views different from their own, especially from one of their own.”

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/prominent_austin_activist_admits_he_infiltrated

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2009-01-09