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'Stop Snitching' t-shirts sales at issue

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BOSTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts wants the city of Boston to reconsider thwarting the sale of t-shirts that say "Stop Snitching."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole had planned to send employees into shops to seize or "strongly discourage" the sale of the t-shirts despite the surge in murders and violent crimes this year, the Boston Globe reported Saturday.

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It "is a form of official censorship which is fundamentally inconsistent with the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression," wrote John Reinstein, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts.

Seth Gitell, a spokesman for the mayor said two spectators wore "Stop Snitching" t-shirts when they attended the trial of a two men accused of fatally shooting 10-year-old Trina Persad in Boston in a botched drive-by shooting in 2004.

"The mayor's overarching priority is the safety of the people of Boston," Gitell said. "These t-shirts promote lack of cooperation with law enforcement and, in some cases, the obstruction of justice."

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