Last night I saw what a police state looks like - a report from the final night of the RNC protests

[Bjorn Against]

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.“

Last night I saw what a police state looks like. It was the final day of the Republican National Convention and I arrived at the State Capitol to march to the Xcel Center along with hundreds of others. We had a permit, and the police told us very clearly that we would be able to march as long as we were peaceful. We were peaceful, but the police decided to change their mind at the last minute anyways and they revoked our permit to march.

But of course the police do not hold the same authority that the Constitution holds, and the Constitution firmly establishes the right of the people to peacefully assemble. The police already had all the roads blocked off from traffic already and there was absolutely no reason for that they couldn't allow us to march, they were violating our Constitutional rights. The Constitution has more authority than a million police officers, and so we decided to march despite our permit being revoked for no good reason because we were not going to just walk away when our rights are being violated. We respect the authority of the Constitution, but those who violate the Constitution have no authority and so when the police told us we couldn't march we marched anyways.

We got to the John Ireland bridge which is near the Capitol and about a hundred riot police blocked our path with horses and batons at the ready. We weren't going to turn away so we stood our ground and sat peacefully for about half an hour. We then decided that if they weren't let us through that way we would find another way to the Xcel Center, and so we marched a couple blocks to the Cedar Avenue bridge, but the police blocked that off as well. Once again stood our ground, and we stayed at the intersection for well over an hour. The only movements the police made were to charge at our peaceful assembly, and to arrest several people for the crime of “unlawful assembly”. Never mind that the Constitution guarantees us the right to assemble, and never mind that the organizers had went through all the proper procedures to obtain a permit for the march, when the police found the Constitution to be inconvenient they started arresting people for taking their Constitutional rights seriously.

Later the group decided that if the police weren't going to let them through they would keep marching until they found a way to get to the Xcel center. It was getting dark at this time, and I had to work in the morning so I started to make my way back to my car. I wished I could have stayed, but unfortunately I could only go so long. When I got back to my car however I heard some loud bangs that sounded like gunshots, it was clear that the police had unleashed violence against the peaceful protesters. Soon I saw several of the protesters making their way back to their vehicles, but many did not make it. Nearly four hundred people were arrested because they had the nerve to exercise their Constitutional rights while the Republicans were in town.

I managed to avoid getting arrested myself, but if I had been arrested it would not have been ashamed one bit. The police and our corporate media can call these protesters criminals all they want, but if they condemn these protesters for being criminals then they should condemn Martin Luther King and Gandhi as criminals as well because they both were arrested for the same type of non-violent civil disobedience that these protesters were arrested for.

You can not have a democracy without protest, and the way that protesters have been treated as if they were criminals sickens me. It sickens me to the core that in a nation that calls itself the greatest democracy in the world will allow the police to unleash brutality and repression upon those who express dissent. It sickens me that our Constitution has essentially become a piece of paper that is held up for PR purposes when it is convenient, and then is discarded when it gets in the way of the agenda of the powerful.

There was a lot of crime in the streets of St. Paul this week, but very little of the crime was committed by the protesters. The criminal acts were committed by the very people who are supposed to fight crime, the police were the real criminals in the streets of St. Paul, and there were plenty more criminals inside the Xcel Center. But despite the assaults, the illegal searches, the violations of the rights to free speech and assembly, and all the other abuses that went on not one police officer has been charged with abusing their power. Despite all the people in the Xcel Center who have long criminal records involving corruption, fraud, torture, warrantless wiretapping, and illegally lying a country into war the police did not bother to arrest a single Republican. Instead they arrested 800 protesters most of whom did nothing wrong aside from exercising their Constitutional rights.

Please consider making a donation to the ACLU or the National Lawyers Guild to help with the legal defense for those who were arrested, and let's see to it that the police face some accountability for their actions this week.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. K & R

[Bjorn Against]

2. Here is one video of what happened...

A lot more happened that is not showing in this video, but this can give you at least somewhat of an idea of the police presence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfVCI_ZBXbY

[barbtries]

22. it made me want to cry

we really are living in a police state. it's surreal.

[babydollhead]

3. kick

[tblue37]

4. JFK said that the government that makes peaceful

revolution impossible makes violent revolution inevitable.

[Bjorn Against]

5. Interesting quote...

I certainly think there is a certain level of truth to what JFK said, but it can lead to non-violent revolution as well and that is what I would like to see. Gandhi really brought about a revolution without using violence, and I think we need a movement in the United States similar to the one Gandhi led in India.

[bdamomma]

13. we may have it if we have repigs in the WH again.

[L0oniX]

23. They, the pigs will kill us or lock us away in one of those interment camps they have prepared.

I hate cops because they lie and they don't defend "we the people".

[jwirr]

35. Bought and paid for police are the problem. Definitions are the other

problem: protester = terrorism in their minds. But they forget two very big parts of our history. The founding fathers were protesters and many of the Christian religions in this country were founded by protesters - protestants.

Finally as a Minnesota resident I am thoroughly ashamed of the police in St. Paul and Minneapolis. I hope they get their ass sued off. They had no business inviting the pugs here in the first place since this state has a long standing as a very blue state. We do go a bit crazy when it comes to governors and sometimes our senate seats but this year I think we will make up for that.

[Carolina]

41. exactly!

I fear them immensely. They bully and lie more often than many people realize.

At 17, my son was a runner for a law firm. Once while driving an attorney to court, he was pulled over -- supposedly for a 'running stop' at a stop sign -- and verbally abused by the officer. The lawyer contested both the cop's accusation and his manner. Only when the lawyer identified himself as an attorney en route to the State Supreme Court did the cop tone down his behavior. My son was still given a ticket for a moving violation but the attorney handled that as well.

My kid was terrified because not only was he innocent but also he had never been talked to in such a manner (with expletives) by anyone, especially by the type of authority figure he had been taught to look up to! Even worse, and he realized this which added to his fear, imagine if he had not had a witness?

There are innocent people in jails because of cops like these and anyone of us could be among them!

[Greyhound]

36. Gandhi's revolution was far from non-violent. There was so much violence and it was so one-sided

that he shamed the British into surrendering (well, declaring victory and leaving). Can you really imagine hundreds of thousands of Americans calmly allowing themselves to be beaten senseless, bones broken, being crippled, and killed in order to drive their point home? I can't.

Hell, we won't go one day without a latte to make a point, or to help our fellow citizens, so I think Gandhi's tactic is not really possible here.

[Bjorn Against]

38. Gandhi's revolution was non-violent, but you are correct that the response was not non-violent

I realize it would be very difficult to pull off a Gandhi type movement, but after Thursday I have more faith that it could happen. When it was announced that we could be arrested hardly anybody left, the vast majority of people stayed knowing that they could be arrested, tear gassed, or clubbed at any moment. I stayed around for three hours, and half the crowd was there longer than I was before they dispersed or got arrested. I saw hundreds of brave people on Thursday night, and it did give me faith that people will stand up for their rights when those rights are being threatened.

[Greyhound]

40. I sincerely hope that you are right. n/t

[crickets]

44. Thank you.

it did give me faith that people will stand up for their rights when those rights are being threatened.

Thanks to you and all of the other people who were able to be there that day, and thank you for bringing back that message of hope and faith.

[Richard Steele]

6. K&R

[mrharvard]

7. Show them the "Top Cop" can be Tried for Treason

http://www.RobertsCourt.com would bring Treason charges against all conspirators:

“... to appoint an Independent Prosecutor under the authority of Article III(3) of the U.S. Constitution to prosecute Treason against these United States of America by U.S. President George W. Bush, U.S. Vice President Richard Cheney, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other John and Jane Does for planning and carrying out the acts of treason, as defined in Article III(3) of the U.S. Constitution, by conspiring to carry out, carrying out and/or causing to be carried out an armed attack upon these United States on September 11, 2001, in the guise of a strategic deception operation” based upon the Northwoods Terror Deception.

[Psyop Samurai]

8. Once you see what that looks like, the world is never the same...

Thanks for the witness, MN.

:hug:

[G_j]

9. That's right! and why most people don't get it.

and scary
:scared:
can you say, POLICE STATE ?


& it didn't just start with W either.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

10. But what do the locals feel about this?

Is this normal for this area? What the f!@# is going on? Is it de facto illegal to have peaceful protest now?

[Bjorn Against]

15. Minneapolis and St. Paul are both very liberal cities

I am sure a very large percentage of the people in Minneapolis and Saint Paul support us, in the suburbs I think the support is more lukewarm. There are certainly many people who think it is horrible that we protest as well, but I don't do this as a popularity contest.

And yes, as I have witnessed the police feel that they can criminalize peaceful protest whenever the elite are in town.

[Nobody]

46. I am one pissed off local

The RNC paid for the lawsuit insurance so the St. Paul cops (and the Minneapolis cops who backed them up) had no worries about going too far. The gloves were off from before Day One.

I have a friend who was arrested just for being there and not being a delegate or a cop. A local reporter got arrested along with two people who just came out of Sears. They were shopping, not protesting, but the thing that scares me the most is not so much the police state, it's people's reaction to the excess.

The cops herded people to a bridge, blocked off both ends, and then arrested them. Regardless of whether or not they were actually protesting or not. And most of the comments were saying that the anarchists needed to be swatted down, despite what was just reported. Despite that the anarchists were a tiny fraction of the protestors.

[cascadiance]

11. Welcome to Amerika!

That's one DVD set we'll wait a LONG time before they get out! To close to reality now!! Amazing how even the helmets they wear now have evolved to something very similar to what they wore in the series! Well written summary! K&R!

[Rocknrule]

26. We're all living in Amerika, Coca-Cola, sometimes war...

This is not a love song

[bdamomma]

12. shameful excessive force on innocent protesters who

value our Constitution. Sickening.

[lib2DaBone]

14. You mean you have an Opinion?

People sentenced under the 2003 Minnesotea "Terrorism" laws. More jail time than if they had robbed a bank. Or committed murder. Their crime? They dared express an "opinion" contrary to the ruling party. And America snoozes..z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z- .

[Bjorn Against]

17. Yep, believe it or not I do have my opinion but I agree with yours as well

This week we have seen protesters charged with terrorism with no evidence besides the words of an agent provocateur. We have also seen journalists arrested, homes raided to seize political literature, indiscriminate tear gassing of large groups of people even as those people are trying to disperse from the area, we have seen artists censored, we have seen people denied the right to assemble peacefully, we have seen mass arrests, we have seen them turn the city into a police state and yet a lot of people actually defend this. It is really frightening.

[FlyingSquirrel]

16. k/r

[Pete2069]

18. Everyone should sent these pictures to their representatives

With the question of what is their opinion on this Police
State in our Country.....

[Raksha]

19. K & R

[crickets]

20. What's wrong with this picture?

I look at the photograph and on the right hand side, I see people. There's just a colorful mixture of everyday people peacefully gathering to make a point.

On the left hand side, I see... terrorists. State-sponsored terrorists.

[barbtries]

21. is the msm covering this travesty at all?

is our country so divided that some of our citizens think the police were just "doing their job" in the twin cities? i grieve for my country tis of thee. my slender hope is that obama will turn it back in the right direction. it cannot be fixed in four years, but maybe it can be steered back toward a government of, for, and by the people. and dissenters will be heard and not criminalized and brutalized and marginalized and abused.

i wish i was there with you. thank you for being there

[Bjorn Against]

24. It got some local coverage, a couple local reporters were even arrested with the protesters

Some of the coverage we received was false or misleading, but there were a few journalists who were with us for a long time and a couple of them got arrested. The police ordered everyone to disperse, but they stayed and the police said they were committing the same "crimes" as the protesters by sticking around to cover what was going on. It is absolutely sickening that the police think they can arrest people who choose to cover a peaceful march, but they did. While I didn't like all the coverage we received, I must give some of the journalists who were there a lot of credit for risking arrest to cover what was going on.

[Seldona]

48. I watched Faux local coverage last night to see what they would say.

All they showed were pictures of broken windows and kicked over garbage cans while announcing the number of people arrested as if it were just some everday occurance. The only time violence was mentioned was in the context of the 'anarchists.'

What a snowjob.

:banghead:

[Xenotime]

25. Looks like a pugs wet dream

[Raksha]

27. Starhawk's account of the last night of the convention...

I received this in my e-mail today. As some here already know, I have a deep personal interest in this situation, because Riyana, mentioned in the second paragraph, is my daughter.

RNC9: The Last March

By Starhawk


Thursday, September 4: Thie is the final night of the convention, the night that John McCaine is scheduled to speak. There’s also an antiwar march scheduled to begin on the steps of the Capitol—an unpermitted march. We make our way there through a city that has become an occupied zone. There are rumors that police are blocking the bridges, that the whole city will be under curfew from 5 pm on.

We gather up our cluster—only about ten of us. The Capitol is surrounded by clumps of riot cops and the tension is throbbing as speakers on the stage rile up the crowd. Jason and Riyanna are fresh out of jail, and not eager to go back, so they will stay on a safe edge and not put themselves into danger. At least, not if Lisa has anything to say about it—she’s snapping at them like a mother dog correcting her pups. She, of course, will snap equally hard at anyone who suggests that she ought to stay out of danger. Juniper and I together can sometimes corral her enough to let us watch her back—but not always. Andy and I have been remarking about how, even though our tactic of choice is to wade into danger and stolidly obstruct it, nothing seems to happen to us. This has held true for both of us, separately and together, in situations much more dangerous than this one. Is it something we do? Will naming it jinx it? How far can we trust it?

A few people in our group are having a moment of panic. Nothing’s happened, yet, but all our intuition tells us that something could, at any moment. They decide to go back, and be our support if something does.

I’m feeling the fear, but it’s a little bit outside of me. I’m trying to drop down below it, to the calm place where I can get information, or at least, a clear hunch. Is this going to go really badly? If so, do I want to be out of it, or in it, to try and make it less bad?

There are two great instincts that war in the human breast; not sex and death, as Freud maintained, but these: the urge to stay safe, and the urge to get into the action or at least, see what’s going on.

For the moment, the second urge is dominant in all of us who remain. The march starts off, and we join it. But we’re extra alert. We’re looking for the exits and the escape routes, positioning ourselves always so there is somewhere to go.

The march heads up the street alongside the Capitol lawn, and then tries to turn across one of the bridges leading into downtown. The police move in, and block us.

There’s a tense crowd of people on the bridge and filling the intersection. Around us are police in full riot gear and gas masks. There’s also a group of bike cops, looking slightly underdressed in shorts and gas masks. They’ve brought in the Minnesota specials—a line of snowplows across the bridge. On them are perched black-masked cops in heavy leathers holding thick-muzzled rifles that shoot rubber bullets.

The energy is unfocused. Nobody knows quit what to do. It could all fall apart, in a moment, with the cops attacking the crowd, or it could remain a standoff for a long time. I am softly drumming, not quite sure what to do, when a young, African American woman with long curls and a ring in her lip comes up and says, “Do you know how to sing, ‘Aint’ Gonna Study War No More?”

I shift the beat, we begin singing, and soon gather a small chorus that forms around us. A tiny, round, young black woman in spectacles steps in front. She has a large voice, and she takes over as lead singer. The chorus grows and a space opens up in the center of the intersection, that is soon filled with riders on bikes, circling around and around, counterclockwise. A young man turns a cartwheel. A clown on stilts appears, out of nowhere, and joins the ride. Suddenly, it’s a circus in the street. The mood shifts and becomes almost festive.

My own mood has shifted, too. I’ve been practicing a more Buddhist-style meditation lately, just watching my breath in odd moments and being present to what’s happening. I’m doing that now, breathing and drumming with the bikes and the song and the riot cops, and for no rational reason whatsoever I feel a surge of pure joy.

Two of the cyclists are punk kids covered with patches and graphics that I’ve seen at spokescouncil. One of them is named Maggot, and I’ve seen him sitting with his head down, mumbling his comments which always make sense. Now he’s on a bike, his head up, smiling.

The young woman in front of me turns and taps my elbow. “Let’s sing, ‘We Shall Overcome’”, she says.

I drum and the others join hands and sing.

“We shall overcome, we shall overcome,

We shall over come, someday…”

There’s some piece of magic at work here. The circling bikes remind me of our dragon-clad cyclists from the ritual that began this week. Now, after all the pain and the ugliness, the tension and the snatch squads and the media lies, after all the arguments and conversations about violence and nonviolence and tactics and accountability, after the splits between Obama and Hillary and the fruitless arguments about which is more crucial, gender or race, it seems deeply and oddly wonderful to be asked by two young black women to sing the old Civil Rights songs of the sixties here in the face of the riot cops. As if something is truly welling up from the earth, some spirit that knows and values rage but persists in remembering the power in acting out of love.

It’s a spell. For just one moment, in one place, we sing in spite of our fear, and the violence abates.

“Deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day.”

It’s been a hard week. We’ve seen the full machinery of the violence of the state called out to quell any semblance of dissent. I’ve seen friends arrested, beaten, shoved, nearly trampled by horses, tasered, pepper sprayed, beaten and literally tortured in jail. We’ve seen organizers targeted for ‘terrorism’ and media lies paint a totally warped picture of what has happened here. They’ve tried to make us feel powerless and afraid, and at times, they’ve succeeded.

But we’re here, at the end, still singing.

[Bjorn Against]

29. Thank you for adding that...

Thank your daughter for being out there with us. I am sure it was pretty frightening for her after already being arrested once, but hopefully any charges that were placed on her will be dropped. I know the ACLU is looking into their options right now, and there are sure to be lawsuits filed so hopefully we will see some accountability. I just officially became a card carrying member of the ACLU today, and after this week I plan on turning a big focus towards civil liberties.

[Raksha]

31. Thank you for your support of my daughter,

and after their ordeal, I promise you she and Jason were very careful to stay on the sidelines for the grand finale. The charges against her were dropped and the ones against Jason were reduced. She sent an e-mail of her own this morning, not a personal one to me but to everyone in her circle. I don't think she'd mind if I post it here:

Dearest ones!

I just wanted to drop everyone a note, in case you hadn't heard, that Jason and I have both been released from prison (as well as everyone else) and that we're recovering just fine and beginning to feel bright and shiny again. The charges against me were dropped and Jason's were reduced, and we're planning on filing a lawsuit soon against the Ramsey County Sherrif's department and St. Paul police, and for that, I could very much use any and all net footage and photos that you've seen about the arrest at Mears Park.

But, more than any of that, I really just wanted to send out a big note to everyone thanking you all for the emails, calls, and love letters I've recieved in the last few days. I haven't been able to get back to you all because things continue to be quite intense here in St. Paul, but I have felt your love continuously and it was something that helped me immensely while I was in jail. Much of the time I was in solitary confinement, and being in a teeny white room with a locked door threatened my sanity and emotional well-being quite a bit. When it got really bad, I always knew I could reach back through my heart and feel the web of love and magic holding us. It never failed. Again, thanks so much.

Love, blessings, and justice!
Riyana

PS - in case you're wondering what all of this is about, by chance, here's a link: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=523827 I'm going to write up my own version of what happened soon, but again, it's been CRAZY here. I'm looking forward to some down time in the next few days.

[Bjorn Against]

32. Wow, I hope your daughter receives a big settlement for this

Now peaceful protesters are getting solitary confinement? This is absolutely sickening, I hope your daughter finds a really good lawyer to sue them for all they are worth.

[Raksha]

39. Jason is the one more likely to get a big settlement,

since he was on the receiving end of most of the police brutality. This morning was the first time I heard about the solitary confinement, and needless to say I was pretty upset about it. Sounds like an obvious attempt to break her so she'd start spouting "incriminating" b.s. about the rest of her group. When you add in the obviously bogus charge (which they later dropped) I don't know what other conclusion is possible.

The charge was "conspiracy to use a toxic substance." Can you believe that? I couldn't even wrap my mind around that one when I heard it, and neither could she.

[barbtries]

53. i read the story at the link

and the comments on the first page. NOT ONE came down on the side of the protesters. a sorry state we live in, a sorry police state that is. apparently we are expected to go like lambs to the slaughter, forgetting the constitution and the sacrifices made to make the constitution the supreme law of the land.

[barbtries]

51. that was so beautiful

link? i want to blog it, and i think it deserves its own thread. a gifted writer, there. how's your daughter doing? was she charged? how long did she spend in jail? i hope she's well!

i was deeply moved by this account, maybe you could tell.

[Raksha]

28. Legal defense fund for the RNC Welcoming Committee:

Some DUers have PM'd me asking how they could contribute to the defense fund for the RNC Welcoming Committee and other protesters, but I didn't have an answer for them until now. This is from the same e-mail from Starhawk I quoted in Reply #27:

UPDATE: All our cluster is out of jail, the bus is back on the street, and I’m home in my own bed! But some of the young organizers who put together food, housing, and meeting spaces for the direct actions are facing trumped up charges of conspiracy to riot and ‘terrorism’ under Minnesota’s version of the Patriot Act. This is one of the clearest uses of this post 911 legislation to target dissent. The Welcoming Committee members are not accused of actually doing any rioting—indeed, they were all in jail during the convention, nor was any physical evidence found to corroborate the fabricated statements of the paid informants who infiltrated meetings.

It’s vitally important for progressives to stand behind these young people who have been targeted mostly because they proclaim themselves ‘anarchists.’ If they can be targeted for their beliefs, so can any of us. If they can be held responsible for the actions of people over whom they have no control, so can anyone who organizes a march, a rally, a civil disobedience, or a protest where a provocateur breaks a window. The lawyers are estimating that to fight their charges may take $250,000 over the next several years. Hey, that’s only 1000 people who can donate $250 each. I’ll be one of them, will you? To donate any amount, go to:
http://www.nornc.org/

[pleah]

30. K&R

[LaStrega]

33. Pepper spray ...

I was down-wind from someone who got pepper sprayed ... ohmygod does that shit hurt. And I was only down-wind, she got it right in the face. I had a bottle of water and started dousing her face, she was bawling. It was awful.

[Bjorn Against]

34. That is awful

I have been exposed to pepper spray indirectly before as well, and I know it was awful. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to have it sprayed directly in the face. Thank you for helping her out, I am sure she was very grateful to have you there to give her what relief you could.

[wicket]

37. Thanks for sharing and being there!

K & R

[minnesota_liberal]

42. Riot Police more like Army than Police

I'm not sure if there were actually armed forces present at the RNC, but whatever the nameless, faceless, heavily armed and overly agressive members of the "police" presence were, they seemed to often behave more like army troops than police.

As such, I question whether they should enjoy the same special protections given to police.

The ability to charge citizens with failure to comply with an officer of the law, interfering with a police officer or resisting arrest was meant to give officers on the beat a little more leverage with which to do their job and some extra protection while doing it.

Although those tools have certainly been abused by many officers operating under normal circumstances over the years, their abuse in "army" situations such as those seen in St. Paul was atrocious. Along with a handful of anarchists, hundreds of peaceful protesters, journalists, photographers and innocent bystanders were blockaded, herded, rushed and assaulted with rubber bullets, flash gernades and pepper spray.

Even those who surrendered their rights without a whimper were arrested and charged with various questionable offenses, including inciting riot. That must have seemed surreal to many who saw the actions of law enforcement officers as being closer to the textbook definition of "riot" than anything they had done.

Those who either protested their mistreatment or - like journalist Amy Goodman - tried to assist others who had been swept up were hauled away and charged with interfering with a police officer or some variation thereof.

But, alas, while there may be good reason for limiting certain powers of law enforcement officers acting in quasi military situations, the trend in our post-9/11 climate is actually the opposite: giving military troops the ability to act as if they were officers of the law.

[lonestarnot]

43. Sadly this is a bushitler world at these moments in time.

[lib2DaBone]

45. First They Came....

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

[G_j]

47. Activist claims unmarked police vans abducted protesters

http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-1392-0-12-12--.html

Activist claims unmarked police vans abducted protesters
Published on 06-09-2008


Source: RawStory - David Edwards and Muriel Kane

A half-dozen representatives of the so-called Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee met with the media in a St. Paul, MN press conference on Thursday to condemn the widescale police raids and arrests that have targeted protesters in that city this week.


The strongest accusations were made by RNC Welcoming Committee co-founder William Gillis, who has been among those planning the protests for the last two years.


“Police kicked down doors with guns drawn on families with their children at dinnertime,” Gillis charged. “Reporters and the media at large have been repeatedly targeted for repression. Activists have been abducted off the street in unmarked vans and political prisoners held without access to medical attention.
”

The allegation about police use of unmarked vans was apparently first made on August 31 by RAW STORY contributor Lindsay Beyerstein, who was reporting on the convention for FireDogLake. She wrote that “ColdSnap is reporting 9 arrests downtown near the Excel center” and then added in an update, “One of the 9 protesters arrested was a nun, seen being loaded into an unmarked blue van. The 9 were apparently trying to climb a fence near a church.” All nine were released later that day.


Other representatives of the protesters used the press conference to affirm that they were not terrorists. Betsy Raash-Gilman, a twenty-year veteran (doc) of non-violent activism, stated, “There are no terrorists up here. There are no terrorists in the Ramsey County jail. There are terrorists in the Xcel Center. There are terrorists in the White House.
”

[Raksha]

49. More police state tactics - thank you for posting this. n/t

[LuckyLib]

50. Law enforcement received $55 million dollars for this four day show of force.

They bought equipment, spend most of it on overtime, and trained everyone up the wazoo. They will most likely never use the equipment or the training again (we can hope), so this was all "show of force" to spend the money, look tough, and create enough energy around the protests to justify the expense.

Over 10,000 people marched peacefully one day, and to the rest of the country it looked like the whole place was a madhouse. Lots of potential protesters stayed home, afraid of the police presence. Both the anarchists and the police won. Peaceful protest was diminished, they looked tough, and a few crazies damaged property.

[sarcasmo]

52. Martial Law Practice.

[Sunshine Jim]

54. don't have enough posts here to reccomend

It is a good article,

thanks for posting it!