Using the grand occasion of US Independence Day, Internet activists and privacy advocates took to the streets in several American cities on Thursday in what was billed as the first coordinated protest against the National Security Agency’s recently-exposed surveillance activities at home and abroad.
The incipient grassroots movement, put together by two organisations, called “Restore the Fourth” and “Fight for the Future”, intends to mobilise public opinion against the NSA surveillance programmes which, they say, violate the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution that protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures without warrants.
While demanding an end to NSA’s surveillance programmes, the organisers of the rallies steered clear of references to whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is still stuck in Moscow airport with no forward movement in his efforts to gain political asylum in a host of countries across the world. A few protesters, however, carried signs, proclaiming Snowden “a hero”.
The protests, however, were on a modest scale. The most prominent of the rallies were reported from San Francisco, Boston, New York City and Washington. However, even in the big cities of New York and Washington, the number of protesters was put at 400-odd. The organisers estimated the nationwide turnout at more than 10,000, covering some 80 cities.
“Restore the Fourth aims to ensure that the will of the people is reflected in the government of the United States of America. This movement intends to bring an end to twelve years of Fourth Amendment abuses, and demonstrate the need for a return to the Constitution,” the group said on its website.
The Fight for the Future said Thursday’s protests were aimed at spreading the word that the American people deserve to know more about the government surveillance programmes that monitor people in their “most private moments”. Its campaign manager Evan Greer was quoted as saying that the protest was getting a lot of support from the online community, with the tech community “really rallying behind this”.