GM Watch exposed Monsanto's covert PR campaign, designed from the top at their headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, which tried, among other things, to paint biotech critics as violent terrorists.
http://members.tripod.com/~ngin/deceit2.html
http://ngin.tripod.com/deceit07.html

Exactly the same rationale seems to have been used to justify police repression in St. Louis of "suspected protesters" against the biotech industry.  

EXCERPT: One police officer, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, has told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he took part in slashing bicycle tires of suspected protesters. The officer said police supervisors had portrayed the occupants of one raided building as terrorists planning harm.

When residents were allowed to return to that building, they found it ransacked and some of their clothes drenched in urine.

The letter to the aldermen, who did not immediately respond, said police actions had the effect of suppressing political dissent against the biotechnology industry.
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Groups want inquiry into police actions
Associated Press, 21 June 2003
http://newstribune.com/stories/062103/sta_0621030930.asp

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- A number of groups converged Friday on City Hall demanding an independent inquiry into what they consider police misconduct preceding last month's protests outside a global agricultural forum here.

More than a dozen groups, including the Green Party of St. Louis, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression signed and delivered a letter to the Board of Aldermen, seeking action.

The St. Louis Police Department is conducting its own investigation into whether officers acted improperly in raiding buildings, making arrests and stopping vehicles two days before a scheduled protest of the World Agricultural Forum, which was held May 18-20 .

That report is not yet complete, police spokesman Richard Wilkes said.

But even if it was, the Green Party's Don Fitz said he has "zero confidence in a self-investigation."

Art Friedrich, subjected to the May 16 police raid of a building, said he was told Friday by internal affairs Sgt. Diane Daily that the report would not be ready for two more weeks. Items seized during the raid included kazoos, a kiln, stress balls, cell phone bills and a diary, he said.

Also Friday, some of those assembled at City Hall again demanded a civilian oversight board to investigate citizen complaints against police officers. Twice since May 1, they have protested outside conventions here in calling for convention boycotts of the city until the proposal, sponsored in a bill by Alderman Terry Kennedy, is passed.

That bill has been languishing for two years. Police Chief Joe Mokwa said Friday through his spokesman that he supports an oversight board.

The coalition's John Chasnoff said the police Board of Commissioners handles budget and policy matters and is not equipped to investigate citizen complaints like those leveled against police last month.

Some activists alleged that police -- aiming to avert violent protests seen elsewhere in recent years -- damaged property, slashed bicycle tires and drenched clothing with urine at a building they raided.

Mokwa has said any officer found by the Police Department's internal affairs unit to have damaged an individual's property will be disciplined.

Police had worried that the activists who oppose genetically altered food might stage a large, potentially violent protest. But the protest outside the conference here May 18 drew only a few hundred demonstrators, all peaceful, and just a handful protested in the event's final two days.

Two days before the forum -- and before any protests -- police arrested 15 people on housing occupancy violations, saying they received complaints from neighbors, and those arrested had been staying in condemned or uninhabitable buildings.

Those arrested countered they'd just been spending a few days in cooperative living housing.

Also detained by police were a dozen members of an apparent bicycle circus who were in town to perform at Biodevastation 7, a gathering for opponents of genetic engineering. They said police initially told them they were being cited for bicycling without a license -- a law no longer on the books. They ultimately were issued summonses for impeding traffic flow.

One police officer, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, has told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch he took part in slashing bicycle tires of suspected protesters. The officer said police supervisors had portrayed the occupants of one raided building as terrorists planning harm.

When residents were allowed to return to that building, they found it ransacked and some of their clothes drenched in urine.

The letter to the aldermen, who did not immediately respond, said police actions had the effect of suppressing political dissent against the biotechnology industry.

"When police are allowed to treat people differently because of their views or because of what they may do in the future, it not only erodes the integrity of the department, but it also erodes public trust and confidence in police," said Denise Lieberman, the ACLU of Eastern Missouri's legal director.

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