[Iran Press TV Latest] The FBI has arrested Elliot Madison, a self-described anarchist and New York social worker, for using Twitter to assist protesters evade the police at the G20 summit.
Madison, 41, and his partner, Michael Wallschlaeger, 46, were put on a $30,000 bail after they were tracked down at their hotel room, Carefree Inn motel, using computers, police scanners and the networking site Twitter to instruct the protests "and to inform the protesters and groups of the movements and actions of law enforcement" on September 24 and 25.
At the two-day summit where many world leaders gathered to discuss the global economic meltdown, about 5,000 protesters were involved in the demonstration and about 200 were arrested.
During the demonstration, police had monitored Twitter, which has turned into a very important tool for passing information among people, to screen communication, the BBC reported.
The FBI reported that other than finding radio scanning equipments at the motel, 11 gas masks, 5 pairs of goggles, test tubes and beakers were also found at Madison's home. Anarchist books and pictures of Marx and Lenin were also taken away by the FBI.
"They arrested me for doing the same thing everybody else was doing, which was perfectly legal," said Madison on Sunday night. "It was crucial for people to have the information we were sending." |