US targeted Black Lives Matter activists in bid to disrupt movement, report finds

<p>Coalition of civil rights groups documents federal prosecutions of activists after the murder of George Floyd last year</p><p>The federal government deliberately targeted Black Lives Matter protesters via heavy-handed criminal prosecutions in an attempt to disrupt and discourage the global movement that swept the nation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/07/the-guardian-view-on-black-lives-matter-worldwide-a-common-cause">and beyond</a> last summer after the Minneapolis police <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jun/25/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-murder-sentencing">killed George Floyd</a>, according to a new report.</p><p>Movement leaders and experts said the prosecution of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/06/minneapolis-george-floyd-my-home-town">protesters</a> over the past year continued a century-long practice by the federal government, rooted in structural racism, to suppress Black social movements via the use of surveillance tactics and other mechanisms.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/aug/19/black-lives-matter-policing-prosecutions-race-goverment">Continue reading...</a>