Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting

[DogPoundPup]

By Mary Turck , TC Daily Planet
August 30, 2008

“I heard somebody saying, ‘They’re coming, they’re coming!’ And feet pounding on the back stairs, pounding on the door saying they had a search warrant. They busted through the door. They’ve got their guns cocked at people.” Sammy Schutz held tightly to five-year-old Gabe, who had been watching a video with his mother and father and about 20 other people when the police stormed into 827 Smith Avenue in St. Paul, ordering everyone down on the floor.

“All I could feel was Mama Bear—do whatever you want to do to me, but I need to get my son out safe. He was watching his dad get handcuffed. And he’s saying, ‘Mommy, mommy, why did they crash through the door?’”

Gabe’s question remained unanswered. Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies said they were executing a search warrant, but would not show a copy of the warrant to lawyers or reporters. More than a dozen police vehicles , almost all unmarked, and more than 20 sheriff’s deputies and St. Paul police arrived at the building about 9:45 Friday night and were still there at 1 a.m., when I left.

After handcuffing the people in the building (occupants said there were about two dozen on the second floor and “about 40 or 50” on the first floor), police processed them one by one. Each person was asked for identification, name and address, and then photographed.

People who had been inside the building told similar stories of police entering with guns drawn. They said police rushed past the security desk on the first floor, and used a battering ram to crash through the second floor back door.

“They said if you don’t show us ID and get your picture taken, we will arrest you and take you away,” said Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, who had arrived five or ten minutes before the raid began, planning to attend a meeting. “They never said what the basis for arrests would be. We were waiting for a meeting, for God’s sake! I cannot tell you how much like a police state that felt to me.”

After each person was released after being photographed, exiting the building and crossing between police cars to a crowd of cheering friends on the sidewalk across from the building. No one was arrested, but sheriff’s deputies remained inside the building.

Eventually, a city contractor arrived to board up the building, allegedly for unspecified code violations.


“This isn’t the way we do things in St. Paul.” City Council member Dave Thune


St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune said he was trying to find out who ordered the building locked up and on what grounds. “This isn’t the way we do things in St. Paul,” Thune said. “I don’t want the city to get sucked into something that the sheriff’s office is concocting.”

Thune said that someone had called in the city contractor and ordered him to secure the building, but this was not done according ot St. Paul city procedures.

“Normally,” said Thune, “we only board up buildings that are vacant and ramshackle. The fire inspector has no idea what’s going on. He hadn’t been called. The person who is on 24/7 call was not called. I talked to him trying to fid out who did issue that order and why.”

The building at 827 Smith Avenue had been rented by the RNC Welcoming Committee as a “convergence space,” open to activists for meetings, eating, and just hanging out. Earlier in the week, a large downstairs room in the former theater held tables of literature and about a dozen computers, set up for free wi-fi access for visitors. Large maps showed downtown St. Paul streets. The kitchen was spotless, with stainless steel refrigerators and a gas range, looking like a commercial kitchen in a church basement. The second floor room, where Sammy and her family were watching a video on consumerism Friday night, had comfortable theater seats and space for meetings.


Search warrant: from soap flakes and X boxes to Molotov cocktails


A young man who would not give his name said that many people had asked to see the search warrant. After “what seemed like a long time,” someone was allowed to read the warrant aloud. His recollection, affirmed by at least two others, was that the warrant was very long and listed many items, including soap flakes, X boxes, paint, computer operating support manuals, caltrops, bleach, floppy disks with digital information, Molotov cocktails and many other items.

Dave Thune reported that sheriff’s deputies hauled out literature and other items in boxes. Literature available in the Convergence Center earlier in the week included “The Struggle is Our Inheritance: A History of Radical Minnesota,” “Anarchy: A Pamphlet,” “a guide to 2008 antiRNC organizing,” and “Need to Know Basics: Coldsnap Legal Collective’s Minnesota Legal Primer for the RNC.”

READ MORE @ http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/30/police-break-down-doors-night-time-raid-anarchist-meeting.html

[thunder rising]

1. Minneapolis/St Paul wow! That's not "like" a police state that IS a police state.

[Truth4Justice]

7. Why all the fuss? This is America: Police State USA after all.

This is just the beginning and there is no escape, ever.

[Fumesucker]

9. The thing is..

A large majority approve of this sort of police behavior.

For people they don't like.

If you approve of this for anyone, you approve of it for everyone.

[G_j]

10. I'm surprised they haven't shown up here yet.. nt

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

16. They've been here for years.

Just ask Agent Mike.

:evilgrin:

[G_j]

17. they sure have

but I meant on this thread,, :-)

[thunder rising]

14. A fear, like rabbits before the wolf, not moving but shaking,

knowing what is about to happen and convinced that remaining quiet is the only choice.

I'm not sure what you would call the syndrome that allowed so many to be rounded up during WWII, but we are seeing it now.

[Truth4Justice]

19. Complacency, snitches & the "it wont happen to me" syndrome.

it sneaks up slowly under the guise of nessessity for safety and the peace, but it leads to tyranny and oppession.

[Fumesucker]

20. It's called "It Can't Happen Here"..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can't_Happen_Here

It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935 . It features newspaperman Doremus Jessup struggling against the fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who resembles (to some extent) the flamboyantly dictatorial Huey Long of Louisiana and Gerald B. Winrod, the Kansas evangelist whose far-right views earned him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi". It serves as a warning that political movements akin to Nazism can come to power in countries such as the United States when people blindly support their leaders.

[Truth4Justice]

18. I agree. But most people are hypocrites and they dont know that to have freedom, you have to give it

back freely. We allowed our leaders to make this happen by the kind of thinking you mentioned. Now police break-ins are accepted as routine just like vehicle traffic checkpoints are, all in the name of fake "safety".

[ixion]

2. sounds like the St. Paul Sheriff's office needs a good, stiff lawsuit

what a bunch of crap.

[G_j]

3. the Great Philly Puppet Raid of 2000...

http://r2klegal.org/r2klegal/press/pr-080101.html

INFILTRATORS IN THE WAREHOUSE

On August 1, as demonstrations against the criminal injustice system were about to hit full speed at the Republican National Convention, the Philadelphia police staged a raid. The target, a warehouse in West Philadelphia, was being used by activists to prepare political puppets. These puppets were to have been part of demonstrations against the criminal justice system and the death penalty--and to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Instead of making it to the street, the puppets were destroyed by police and the 75 people in and around the warehouse were arrested.

The story of the warehouse raid, however, did not start on August 1, but about a week before. It was then, during preparations for the protests, that four men showed up at the warehouse at 41st and Haverford. The four, known as Tim, Harry, George and Ryan, were older than most of the puppet building crew. They said they were union carpenters from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, who built stages. According to those working on the puppets at the warehouse, they were hard workers, but did not seem very political.

In fact the four were Pennsylvania state police, working undercover. Their job was to gather intelligence on those organizing protests and lay the basis for a "search warrant" being issued that would lead to the raid in the warehouse. What else these police spies were doing during that time has not yet come out.

News of the agents was revealed in an affidavit filed in court before the raid (sealed at the time) and made public in September. The affidavit specifically acknowledges the spies saying, "This investigation is utilizing several Pennsylvania State Troopers in an undercover capacity that have infiltrated several of the activist groups planning to commit numerous illegal direct actions."

<snip>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://r2klegal.org/r2klegal/press/pr-080101.html

Press Releases

R2K LEGAL COLLECTIVE PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 1, 2001
CONTACT: Kris Hermes, R2K Legal Collective [phone]; Larry Krasner, R2K Lawyer [phone]; Paul Hetznecker, R2K Lawyer [phone]
http://www.r2klegal.org

PUPPET WAREHOUSE CIVIL SUITS FILED ON ANNIVERSARY OF GOP CONVENTION ARRESTS

Puppet warehouse arrestees file largest RNC civil suit to date on the anniversary of mass arrests made at last year's Republican Convention protests. Lawsuits allege police abuse and malicious prosecution of meritless cases.

(Philadelphia, PA) Attorneys Paul Hetznecker and Lawrence Krasner filed suit in federal court today against the City of Philadelphia on behalf of what will be dozens of people arrested in a warehouse where puppets, signs and banners were being made on August 1, 2000 during the Republican National Convention (RNC). The lawsuit alleges that demonstrators were subject to preventive detention and malicious prosecution. The warehouse defendants suffered months of hearings before the cases were thrown out last November. A year later, there are still nine cases stemming from the RNC protests that have yet to go to trial. The DA has delayed eight of those cases in an attempt to impose harsher treatment.

Of the over seventy people who were arrested in the puppet warehouse, approximately fifty are committed to filing suit against the city. Today's suit includes an initial wave of eleven plaintiffs, with the rest joining on over the next couple of weeks. The plaintiffs allege unlawful arrest, improper search and seizure, excessive bail, and denial of free speech rights. The suits seek monetary damages and more importantly injunctions against police abuse.

"The puppet cases have been seen as the clearest example of police misconduct," says Matthew Hart of the Spiral Q Puppet Theater and plaintiff in the suit against the city. "Yet, it has been shown time and again that they are merely examples of widespread misconduct that occurred at last summer's demonstrations under Police Commissioner Timoney's watch."

At the time of the warehouse raid, the occupants were accused of having C4 explosives and acid-filled balloons. They were also accused of using the puppet space to plan violence and orchestrate a riot. In court, these claims evaporated. All of the cases against those arrested in the warehouse were thrown out. No weapons were found there, and there was no evidence of violence being planned. Not one person arrested there could be linked to any violent, or even non-violent illegal act.

Hundreds of activists that were in Philadelphia to voice outrage on issues such as the criminal "justice" system -- the death penalty, police violence, class warfare -- and corporate domination of politics and the global economy were arrested, overcharged, and excessively prosecuted. Of the over 400 arrested, all but a handful of the cases have been thrown out, vindicating people's claims of excessive charging and malicious prosecution. Of the original forty-three people charged with felonies, most have had their charges dropped or thrown out, and there have been no felony convictions at trial.

School of the Americas Watch activist Linda Panetta's case was dismissed last Fall on grounds of selective prosecution and then later appealed by the DA's office. "The DA's decision to appeal the case is further proof that the city is intent on targeting peaceful political activists," says Panetta.

"These suits show how the City of Philadelphia did wrong and should own up to it," said attorney Lawrence Krasner. "Having lost over and over again in the criminal proceedings, it's time for the city to stop using the protesters as a political football to promote its own political agenda at the expense of all our rights."

--030--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WOW: Domestic Spies, Abramoff & the Great Philly Puppet Raid of 2000...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/29/231128/357/195/559149

[MadrasT]

25. I'm from Philly and I remember that... but didn't follow the aftermath

Thanks for the updates.

[TexasObserver]

4. likely triggered by something they got from someone associated with RNC

[Fumesucker]

5. floppy disks with digital information?

Bwhahahahahaha...

And yes, this is the way "we do things in St Paul".. Obviously.

[Eric J in MN]

6. I hate it when polticians boast that they increased the number of police officers.

Events like this show we should have fewer police officers.

Enough cops to investigate crimes which have taken place.

Not enough cops to barge in on activists who haven't broken any laws, point guns at them and demand ID.

[Truth4Justice]

11. We need more cops like a dog needs more fleas. And no I have never needed a cop, thanks.

and I never will. Lets decrease our local tax rates by firing some of these scummy thugs dressed in blue.

[norepubsin08]

8. TYPICAL FUCKING PIGS!!!

Just like the cops to do that...when ever their narrow little world is questioned, they strike back...part of the problem is that most cops have a power lust and the other part of the problem is that we have glorified their status well beyond what it should ever be. All the hyped up tv shows showing macho cops disrespecting criminals and whining about a defendants rights, have made real cops into arrogant and ignorant pricks. This world would be a lot better off with way less asshole pigs!!!
People need to wake up to shit, quit letting a bunch of uneducated, "can't find a job anywhere after I separate from the military" losers run roughshod over our constitution.

[Patiod]

12. Today the anarchists, tomorrow the anti-fascists

I know a lot of us here on DU and in the progressive world (I'm thinking Randi Rhodes comments yesterday) are not particularly impressed with the anarchists and "wackos" who demonstrated in Denver.

But we need to realize that as this country gets more and more fascist, more "security conscious" and worried about "terrorists" (although strangely, never about "pro-life" terrorists or the Tim McVeighs of the world), the type of groups that can be raided and monitored get closer and closer to you and I.

Do I want undercover agents attending my church (Quaker) or our Peace and Social Concerns meetings (as if we could ever get organized enough to actually do anything dangerous)?

Do you want mainstream peace or social justice groups monitored, harassed and arrested? Because that's where this is heading.

[bean fidhleir]

13. Everyone should find and read the Church Hearings transcripts from the '70s

or at the very least read a comprehensive review of their findings.

If it doesn't make your skin crawl, nothing will

[lonestarnot]

15. Sheriff's office suppose to having a news conference soon. Pushing some propoganda I suppose.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

21. Wait. Anarchists were having meetings?

Do they even know what anarchists are? Those people, first of all, are idiots.
They shouldn't have been raided, but still, you have to admit they are dumb. Anarchy is the lack of government, lack of rules, and you're having a meeting? Seriously. What is the matter with those people?
Duckie

[nRkiSt]

23. Yes we have meetings...

No, we're not stupid. Why don't you just go play with your yellow rubber, Duckie.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

24. ARe you serious?

Do you know what anarchist means? Do you understand the actual philosophy and goals behind anarchy? Obviously not. Why don't you go play with your little nRkist? And by all means, read a book or something.
Meetings are the OPPOSITE of what Anarchists stand for.
Duckie

[Kitty Herder]

22. This is so wrong!

Can we please have our country back? I'm not liking this police state shit.

[BreweryYardRat]

26. Gross abuse of power.

Corrupt cops really, REALLY piss me off.

We need a thorough inspection and overhaul of all police departments nationwide. Additionally, copies of the Bill of Rights and all laws relating to them (especially search and arrest warrants) need to become mandatory reading at police departments nationwide.

Every officer involved in this needs to lose his/her badge, and possibly face jail time. Whoever ordered the raid ought to get a long stretch in general population at a high-security prison, but I won't hold my breath.