this is your government

Do you believe that The First Amendment should guarantee the right to gather and protest peacefully?

Do you believe that law enforcement personnel should not try to prevent that peaceful protesting?

Apparently, the federal government does not believe this. They feel it is okay to arrest and detain people who are suspected of planning to join a peaceful protest. They will go to whatever lengths are necessary to prevent this, including holding people without charges for the maximum amount of time allowed by law (up to five days, if they're lucky).

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html