Today is the 15th anniversary of 2003’s coordinated protest against the Iraq War. With attendance in the millions, at the time it was the “the largest protest event in human history.” Though we don’t have any records from that particular protest, Federal Bureau of Investigation files show that later demonstrations were under heavy Bureau surveillance, taking note of details as banal as a car bearing a pro-peace bumper sticker.

After an exciting but relatively peaceful weekend of protesting, calm was restored to the city, and MuckRock awaits its latest requests for the official footage of the event.

A memo from Howard Zinn’s FBI file shows how the Bureau relied on third-party contractors and press coverage to avoid scrutiny of its surveillance of Vietnam protestors.

In trying to learn more about how police respond to demonstrations, MuckRock has been consistently met with exemptions and pushback, often with entire records releases being denied. Let us curate the five worst examples of this we have come across in the last few months.

In a democracy, the power of the people comes from the ability to hold their government accountable. We’re launching a project to provide a comprehensive list of FOIA resources that will help you to prepare, participate, and investigate protests. Today, we’ll be examining three pivotal protests of the past decade in America – Occupy Wall Street, Ferguson and NoDAPL.