More than 130 people gathered in downtown Tampa on the Fourth of July to protest the recent revelations reported on NSA surveillance, including the PRISM program that they say violates their Fourth Amendment rights.
The protest was scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in Lykes Gaslight Park, but there was nary a protester in sight. Then a few moments later, dozens of protesters — carrying signs that read "Don't Spy on Me, Bro," "Snowden is a Hero, Obama is a Traitor," "NSA-WTF?" — began marching through the park and then zigzagged through a mostly barren downtown before descending on the federal courthouse on Florida Avenue.
During the past few weeks, activists planned the event through Reddit. Susie Shannon, who was active during the Occupy Tampa protests, called it the broadest coalition of activists that she's worked with, many with a strong libertarian bent.
This article appears in Jul 4-10, 2013.