The Federal Bureau of Investigation has interrogated political activists in at least six states in an effort to obtain information about any plans for violent or disruptive protests at the Republican National Convention in New York. Civil rights groups have documented FBI questioning of between 40 and 50 people, which they say amounts to harassment and results in the chilling of free speech. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, however, issued a five-page internal analysis obtained by the New York Times that claimed any possible “chilling” effect would be “quite minimal and substantially outweighed by the public interest in maintaining safety and order during large-scale demonstrations.” Similar interrogations leading up to the Democratic National Convention caused some activists to stay away from the protests in Boston, even though they told the FBI they had no knowledge of plans for any violent activity.