Take down that bridge, NOW!
Posted on 05/01/2012 2:26:23 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave
CLEVELAND, Ohio – FBI officials today said that while the members of a group arrested in an attempt to blow up a bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park were also involved in the Occupy Cleveland movement, that organization is not under federal investigation.
"Let me be clear, the FBI and Department of Justice are not conducting an investigation of any specific group," said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. "We do not investigate movements or groups, we investigate individuals."
The Occupy movement is never identified by name in the affidavit filed by federal officials today, but interviews have since indicated that the five arrested had been involved with – and somewhat dissatisfied with – the Occupy Cleveland movement in Public Square.
Still, that the five men arrested were connected with that movement – including attending an Oct. 21, 2011, event on Cleveland’s Public Square – had caused ripples throughout the day.
The group also issued a statement Monday, saying that “while the group arrested Monday evening by the FBI were associated with Occupy Cleveland, they were in no way representing or acting on behalf of Occupy Cleveland or the event that was planned for later today at the GE Lighting building."
The May Day event at GE was sponsored by Occupy Cleveland, the North Shore AFL-CIO, Cleveland Jobs with Justice, Fight for a Fair Economy and SEIU Local 1, the statement said. The event was cancelled, however, because of “the alleged actions of the autonomous group arrested (Monday) night,” the statement said, adding that “Occupy Cleveland has had affirmed principles of non-violence since its inception on October 6, 2011.”
"Today's event Occupy GE (General Electric) was canceled because there were rumors these guys were involved,” said Debbie Kline of Jobs with Justice. “They were NEVER at the table.
“It’s been over a month we've been planning this. We will do this in the future. We'll do this again. But it would have been in bad taste to do today."
Bomb plot suspect Brandon Baxter came to a Jobs with Justice “spring training” event this year to learn about non-violent action, she said.
"When you're in a movement, you can't kick people out when they are volunteers," Kline said. "These five were acting on their own, they didn't have any part of the greater movement."
"There are ‘fringey’ people all over the place."
View full sizeThomas Ondrey, The Plain DealerThe Ohio 82 bridge as it crosses the Cuyahoga River in Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Brecksville. The FBI arrested five men this week in connection with a plot to blow up the bridge today for May Day protests.
The FBI arrested Baxter and four others Monday evening, saying they had planted what were believed to be explosive devices under the Ohio 82 bridge over Cuyahoga Valley National Park as part of a May Day protest today.
The five men were “self-proclaimed anarchists,” who intended to detonate two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under the bridge in Sagamore Hills, but had purchased the inert devices from undercover FBI agents, officials said
Also arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials were: Douglas Wright, 26 and Anthony Hayne, 35.
Wright had also talked about "getting a car that they can drive into the Federal Reserve Bank" in Cleveland to blow it up, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Ryan Taylor. (See the affidavit in the DocumentCloud reader below.)
“Despite the defendants’ worst intentions and aims during the entire course of yesterday’s operation, the public was never in danger,” Dettelbach said. “The defendants never possessed at any time any really explosive materials and the arrests warrants were signed before they got in the car and went to the bridge.”
Also arrested, but not charged, were Connor Stevens, 20 and Joshua Stafford, 23. Anthony said Stevens and Stafford were currently being charged, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park issued a news release this afternoon saying that park rangers worked with FBI during the course of the investigation and that “park visitors were not at risk during the operation.”
“At no time were the Brecksville Station or the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad considered targets for the plot,” the news release said.
The national park encompasses 33,000 acres along the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson also issued the following statement: “I would like to express my appreciation to FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen D. Anthony and the Cleveland Office of the FBI for their diligence in identifying and exposing a potential threat to our community, and for keeping Cleveland's safety leadership informed on the progress of the investigation.”
Reporter Rachel Dissell contributed to this story.
They learned everything they know in life from Spongebob cartoons.
Except when the group is called "The Michigan Militia"....
The entire Occupy movement should taken down under RICO.
The same was done against the Klan and other national terrorist racketeering organizations.
But they are communistity organizers like the little bastard in the White House. He’s cool with it.
Even Bill Ayers threw some bombs in his day and says he could be spurred to do it again.
Another thing to consider, with this administration’s claims of “terrorism” and “racism” among the tea party protests...
If there WERE people who joined the tea party movement who could’ve been tempted by FBI agents into planting bombs, we would have heard it by now.
I do not doubt they infiltrated the group. Especially in the wake of what’s been learned from Fast and Furious.
There is a core difference between the tea party patriots and occupy communist/anarchist/socialists. One seeks to keep America in accordance with the founding principles of this nation, the other seeks to tear down the system and replace it with some sort of socialist system. Even political “anarchists” want universal healthcare (which means a tax system to pay for it) so there goes their claims of no centralized government.
That's what happens with all these plots. They're instigated by the FBI who then "rescues" us! Nice scam. They haven't caught a real terrorist in years.
They're instigated by the FBI who then "rescues" us! Nice scam.
Respectfully disagree. Five 0.99% Occutards actually believed they hooked up with the "right" people. Otherwise we could be reading a much different headline today; and wondering what's wrong with the FBI.
Fortunately many "good actors" at work in the Cleveland Office. JTTF Cleveland "connected" many Islaminazi terrorist plot "dots" in the Great Lakes region alone between 2001-2007. Thinking I lost count at about 125.
From my point of view, more kudos to the hard working Cleveland Office agents!
Cheers,
OLA
They don't? What about militias in the 90's, as just one example?[/Q]
that is obviuously a statement of political cover for a pet radical movement of the current administration,
the FBI statement would be much different if the perps were with the Tea Party movement
bump
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