RNC Student Protest (Sept. 4th)

[6souls]

mug shots of those arrested from the RNC welcoming committee

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...rynTrimmer.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Eryn Trimmer was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...icaBicking.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Monica Bicking was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...ertCzernik.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Robert Czernik was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...llenGivins.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Luce Guillen-Givens was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...anaelSecor.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Nathanael Secor was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...rikOseland.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Erik Oseland was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...axSpeckton.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Max Speckton was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...Fitzgerald.JPG
Arrested as a leader of the RNC Welcoming Committee, Garrett Fitzgerald was charged with conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder, conspiracy to damage property and conspiracy to commit riot - 2nd degree furtherance of terrorism.

http://llnw.image.cbslocal.com/30/20...rRodrigues.JPG
Arrested before the convention, 22-year-old Vernon Alexander Rodrigues of Mount Eden, California was charged with obstruction of legal process.

[Gregorio]

Those people should go to jail on ugliness alone.

[HAcoreRD]

2nd to last guy didnt look that ugly

[Olo401]

not saying that study was at all right (rush seriously? ) but you really are the king of "I don't agree with that so it's not true"

No, but I do know how to make a good snark. You don't know snark, doya?

[Norelco]

Something about mugshots in that they sort of make everyone look extremely dishevled and crazy.

[Kuya]

Second from the last doesn't look bad at all.

[Demosthenes11]

tbh as i was scrolling down I was expecting one of those photos to have the hamburgler or some shit in it

[Kyreth]

thats how you protest war crimes, by committing crimes against your innocent countrymen.

Somehow, I don't think the guys identifying themselves as "anarchists" were all that interested in protesting as much as they were into being assholes with a handy label. The real protestors were considerably more well behaved.

[jmc]

One of my coworker's sons was at the capitol last night to see RATM and this is what happened. The group putting on the show had a permit to present live music until 7pm. Rage was set to go on @ 6:30pm. The police delayed the band from going on stage until 7 and then told them that they were not allowed to play.

Tonight is the scheduled RATM show. Mpls/StP is really worried that this show will get out of hand because 8 years ago in L.A. there was a riot after a Rage show in a similar political climate. So the Minneap police have flown in L.A. police that were there for riot to help advise them on what to do and to provide an added show of force.

Last friday i was in downtown Minneap for a Gopher football game (college) and after the game i walked back to where i was parked. every two blocks there was a group of police or state patrol. Obviously they were not very organized. If something was to break out, their reaction time would have been low. What would have been better would be to spread them out a bit. My dad, who was with me, commented that with as many officers as we had seen, they could have had at least one person on every corner in the downtown area.

Ya, Boston PD was going to send 70 officers down mainly because of the last riots from former events. We backed out a few weeks ago, and looks like they grabbed the LAPD instead lol

[6souls]

102 people were arrested after the Rage show last night for protesting w/o a permit. Before the show got it riot police surrounded the Target Center, shortly after people started pouring out. Lots of rowdy idiots, but after everyone saw police waiting for them, things went up half a notch and the crowd turned into a protest blocking off after bar hours traffic. No violent incidents, just loitering, sit ins, blocking streets, & pissed off cops. Knowing the area, there are parking lots all around the arena and from the footage I've seen police were blocking the way to many of these. It's almost like the police wanted what happened last night to happen. I'm sure if if the police weren't such hard asses the protesting group would have been much smaller and most of the drunken idiots would've made their way home.

Scenes like this are nothing new. Any time a hip hop show takes place downtown, cops will be out there in full force creating very tense situations. Minneap cops can be dirty and use dirty tactics. NE minneap is a dangerous place to be. To big enemies there, police & gangs. Pedestrians & media have been known to get ruffed up by both. One incident I can think of is when a black female reporter from the local fox station came across a police beating of a suspect, while she was taking a walk, and she used her cell phone to record the beating. Police noticed her, put her under temporary arrest and confiscated her phone. The only way she was able to get it back was her media connections. And when she was being confronted by the police a resident of the neighborhood told her something along the lines of "just do what they say, that's how things work around here." The cop said "listen to him, he knows how it is."


But enough with Minneap pigs, there is currently a situation going on in St. Paul with the final big protest. The group had a permit to protest until 5pm, but the police told them ahead of time that they would let them continue past 5pm. At 5pm the police chief rolled up in a golf cart and told the crowd that their permit was up and they had to disperse. The crowd of course didn't. Riot police lined up and they had a stand-off. At about 5:50pm half the crowd started going back and went another route. Both groups are trying to reach the arena. As of right now, the police have given the groups 5min to disperse or they will begin firing tear gas & flash bangs. There has been no violence, no arrests, purely a peaceful protest. Things are expected to change once the police start to fire upon the crowd.

[6souls]

Student strike... a failure or a success?

two news blurbs;

Fox:

Police have one message: stay in school

Students from Harding High School and Johnson High School in St. Paul were planning a walkout to protest war and the Republican National Convention.

St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington told reporters Thursday that police are in contact with school administrators to discourage a walkout on the fourth and final day of the RNC.

Parents received a recorded message Wednesday night from the Harding High School principal saying students who leave school in a walkout will be punished.

NBC:

In a warmup to Thursday's expected main protest, about 50 college and high school students staged an anti-war rally at the Capitol at midday. Eight police officers watched the rally from afar, with most leaning against their cars. None wore riot gear.

Organizers said they were trying to put on a safe, nonviolent event for the whole family. When a musician singing and playing a guitar uttered a profanity, she was chastised by the crowd and quickly promised to clean up her language.

[6souls]

update on the situation in St. Paul

from NBC:

6:39

There's a lot of running going on...I'm not sure exactly what's happening.

There was just a major effort to get everyone out of the intersection...

They've taken the horses and circled the people at the intersection...

There are people screaming not to panic and to walk.

Right now, the police are completely surrounding the protesters. There is no longer an exit option to the north.

ABC is now reporting that about 40+ people that are staging a sit-in, on the 1st location, are being plucked up and arrested. They have decided not to tear gas the crowd and the riot police have removed their gas masks. No report yet with what is going on with the other group.

6:49 p.m.

It appears someone sprayed mace. That's what caused people to run.

There's a lot of noise including a helicopter overhead, but have not heard any warnings from police.

A Star Tribune reporter tells me the cops have told protesters to disperse and head west. If anything, I see people moving north.

Apparently there have been arrests going on at the front of the line.

Chants: let them go, let them go, let them go.

8:22 Marion and I94

I have found myself in the middle of a team of riot police. There have been several rounds of what could be tear gas canisters go off.

This is the staging area for police since day one, so all of the officers cars are here and they report here in the morning.

We just saw what looked like fireworks, or large explosions go off near the south west corder of the sears lot directly across the interstate from the Cathedral, St. Paul

Now, it's like everyone is running to an area near the sears lot, and we're being ordered to go back.

The interstate is flowing freely, not a sense there is anything going wrong.

The smell in the air is not of tear gas, but of fireworks on the 4th of july. I think the last explosion was some type of firework near the edge of St. Anthony Avenue, which serves as a frontage road on the north side of I-94.

We've been asked to back up once again by the police holding tear gas canisters.

What is significant here is that the Marion Bridge has been shut down on both ends by police.

On the bridge are scores of people in plastic handcuffs on seated on both sides of the bridge. A police officer said there was a 'massive arrest.'

What's also interesting is that there are four cops with flash lights on the frontage road just east of the Marion Bridge looking along side the road and under cars, obviously for something.

Many of the squad cars, nearly 12 total, are all Cedar Rapids police squads. There are a couple police SUVs and there are also a variety of police vehicles including a parking lot of emergency vehicles and rental vans used to carry cops in riot gear.

8:05 p.m.

Interesting thing just happened: The crowd was really thinning down from several hundred to just a few dozen. Then, the cops got on the intercom and told everyone to disperse to the west or they will start to use non-lethal weapons.

There were literally a few dozen people left and they were already leaving, including some police officers. I don't really get that part, unless they were just trying to totally clear the area. Maybe we'll find out later.

Right now, we're doing what everyone else is doing, moving west, apparently to University and Rice.

So, we're headed there to see what's going on.

Fox:

Police tactics scatter crowds

About three hours into the standoff, about 300 protesters sat down on University Avenue. That prompted police to close the street. Officers then set off smoke bombs and fired seven percussion grenades, causing protesters to scatter.

A group of protesters entered a residential area north of the Capitol. Later, at least three smoke bombs were discharged in the area of apartments and houses.

The hundreds who didn't call it a night moved toward downtown St. Paul, where they were blocked again by police at 12th and Cedar.

ABC:

As John McCain accepts his party's presidential nomination Thursday night on the final day of the Republican National Convention, protesters calling for an end to the Iraq war attempted bring their message to him outside the Xcel Energy Center.

The Anti-War Committee urged others to join in and denounced the increased presence of police in riot gear and acts of "intimidation" in the streets of St. Paul.

Tracy Molm, a member of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota, urged students to get involved.

"Students in this country are angry. We're angry because it's us that are asked to fight and die in this immoral and unjust war," Molm said Wednesday. "Bring that anger to the streets, because that is how social change in this country happens."

The group gathered roughly 1,500 protesters at the State Capitol around 4 p.m., and began to march to the Xcel, 10 blocks away.

Once the group reached the John Ireland Bridge, crossing over Interstate 94, police in riot gear met them.

Officers created a five-man deep wall along the bridge, and placed snowplows at the south end of the bridge as barricades. Police blocked the group from moving beyond the bridge because their protest permit expired at 5 p.m.

A few protesters lingered on the bridge, while the others left the bridge and regrouped near 12th and Cedar Streets.

Ramsey County officials said four people have been arrested throughout Thursday, and 422 people have been arrested since Saturday.

St. Paul was quieter on the convention's third day, when four women from the peace group CodePink were arrested after crawling under a fence a couple blocks from Xcel. They were released.

CodePink also took credit for disrupting Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's speech on Wednesday night. The group said two of its members were given tickets to the speech by a Republican delegate who was frustrated with the party and Palin.

The CodePink members, Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, were escorted from the Xcel Center after yelling and displaying a banner. They said they were held until after her speech but not arrested.

[6souls]

Amnesty International has sent out a statement on the handling of the RNC protesters.

PRESS STATEMENT
For immediate release:
Friday, September 5, 2008
Contact: AIUSA media office
202-544-0200 x302

Use of Force Against RNC Protesters “Disproportionate,” Charges Amnesty International

[London]--Amnesty International is concerned by allegations of excessive use of force and mass arrests by police at demonstrations in St. Paul, Minnesota during the Republican National Convention (RNC) from September 1-4, 2008. The human rights organization is calling on the city and county authorities to ensure that all allegations of ill-treatment and other abuses are impartially investigated, with a review of police tactics and weapons in the policing of demonstrations.

The organization’s concerns arise from media reports, video and photographic images which appear to show police officers deploying unnecessary and disproportionate use of non-lethal weapons on non-violent protestors marching through the streets or congregating outside the arena where the Convention was being held.

Amnesty International urges that an inquiry be carried out promptly, that its findings and recommendations be made public in a timely manner. If the force used is found to have been excessive and to have contravened the principles of necessity and proportionality, then those involved should be disciplined, measures put in place and training given to ensure future policing operations conform to international standards.

Police are reported to have fired rubber bullets and used batons, pepper spray, tear gas canisters and concussion grenades on peaceful demonstrators and journalists. Amnesty International has also received unconfirmed reports that some of those arrested during the demonstrations may have been ill-treated while held at Ramsey county jail.

Amnesty International is also concerned at reports that several journalists who were covering the RNC were arbitrarily arrested while filming and reporting on the demonstrations. They include host of independent news program Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman, and two of the program’s producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were both allegedly subjected to violence during their arrest. A photographer for the Associated Press (AP) and other journalists were also arrested while covering the demonstrations.

Kouddous described his arrest to media, “…two or three police officers tackled me. They threw me violently against a wall. Then they threw me to the ground. I was kicked in the chest several times. A police officer ground his knee into my back…I was also, the entire time, telling them, ‘I’m media. I’m press….,’ but…that didn’t seem to matter at all.”

Amnesty International recognizes the challenges involved in policing large scale demonstrations and that some protestors may have been involved in acts of violence or obstruction. However, some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations (U.N.) standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. These stipulate, among other things, that force should be used only as a last resort, in proportion to the threat posed, and should be designed to minimize damage or injury. Some of the treatment also appears to have contravened U.S. laws and guidelines on the use of force. The U.N. standards also stress that everyone is allowed to participate in lawful and peaceful assemblies, in accordance with the principles embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

For more information, please contact the AIUSA media office at 202-544-0200 x302 or visit our website at www.amnestyusa.org.

credit goes to Won-ton from KI for finding this

[Kuya]

Yea, i also heard that there might be some investigations coming out of this. Frankly, regardless of conservatives being in any way involved in this, i'm totally not surprised this would happen near a GOP convention.

[Kuya]

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/bl...uls_polic.html

However, in Denver, one of Ross’ producers, Asa Eslocker, was arrested while trying to interview Democratic senators and donors leaving a private event at the Brown Palace Hotel.

What was different in St. Paul was that the police seemed especially intent on singling out independent journalists and activists covering the Republican convention for the Internet and other alternative forms of media. Over the weekend, police staged preemptive raids on several buildings where planning sessions for demonstrations were being held, one of them a meeting of various video bloggers, including I-Witness Video, a media group that monitors law enforcement. Later in the week, I-Witness’ temporary headquarters were entered by police, claiming they had received news of a possible hostage situation.

In St. Paul, two student photographers and their advisor from the University of Kentucky were held without charge for 36 hours. The ACLU of Minnesota ID’d several other journalists, bloggers and photographers from Rhode Island, California, Illinois, Florida, and other parts of the country who also were arrested. Many others were gassed or hit by pepper spray.

Perhaps the most prominent arrest was that of journalist Amy Goodman, anchor of the daily television and radio news program, “Democracy Now!” Police had taken two of her producers into custody as they were trying to cover the news. Goodman went out looking for them, but didn’t get very far. She was stopped, slapped into handcuffs, and hauled into a detention center, along with almost 200 hundred other people. They had come to demonstrate, she had come to report on them.

What has those in control worried is that despite what the politicians tell us from inside their fortified compounds where the party line rules, more and more people outside have cameras and laptops, and they’re not afraid to use them.

Forty years ago, protestors in Chicago shouted, “The whole world is watching.” More and more, the whole world isn’t just watching. From Minnesota to China, citizen journalists are reporting what they see and hear, and the powers that be don’t like it.

^

[Beckwin]

COUNTRY FIRST

free speech, due process, etc. second

[Kuya]

I'm surprised more people aren't outraged; this is an assault on freedom of the press and free speech all around.

[Quicklet]

When people attack delegates, spray them with bleach, etc. on the first day of the convention, I'm not surprised the police took a tougher stance afterward. St. Paul should've just been like Denver and just not allowed any protesters' to even get near the convention area to avoid the inevitable.

[pohibaba]

I like how people are blaming the Republican Party for this rather than just blaming the St. Paul police and its chiefs; you know, the people actually responsible for it?

[Quicklet]

Didn't you know pohi? Everything that's wrong with America is the fault of Republicans.