Executive Branch
White House Has Written Manual on Protesters
Posted Aug 22, 2007, 05:33 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A written White House manual sets uniform policies to be followed concerning those who protest presidential events.
Among other measures, it calls for tight control of event tickets and screening of attendees to check for hidden signs. If that doesn't work, as the Washington Post characterizes the manual's instructions, "Any anti-Bush demonstrators who manage to get in anyway should be shouted down by 'rally squads' stationed in strategic locations."
The next step, if the rally squads don't succeed, reportedly is having police throw the protesters out.
The manual was released to the American Civil Liberties Union in connection with a lawsuit that recently settled for $80,000 without an admission of wrongdoing. It was filed on behalf of two people arrested for wearing anti-Bush T-shirts at a 2004 Fourth of July speech at the West Virginia State Capitol.