The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

Portland Police Rebel against Ashcroft’s Witch-hunt

Dec 3, 2001

The city of Portland, Oregon said it wouldn’t round up and interrogate dozens of Muslim men who were accused of no crime or even thought to be suspects in a crime. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Justice Department has demanded that city police forces carry on this witch-hunt.

Portland city officials said to do so would mean violating a state law that holds that people can be investigated only if there is a reasonable suspicion that they were involved in a crime.

A top police official said he had grown up in Detroit and he know what it was like when innocent people were rounded up, and he wasn’t ready to do that in Portland.

It appears that even police can be appalled by police-state measures.