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Critical Mass arrests in Minneapolis

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Photos by Diversey, published under Creative Commons license

September 01, 2007
Police arrested nearly 20 people August 31, at a bike ride in downtown Minneapolis. The event, which drew hundreds of riders, was sponsored jointly by Critical Mass and the the pReNC anarchist and anti-authoritarian planning event taking place this weekend to plan for protests at next year's Republican Convention. Critical Mass is a loosely-organized group of cyclists who stage monthly rides in Minneapolis to advocate reduced reliance on automobile transportation.

By all accounts, large numbers of police participated in the arrests, and many of the riders were sprayed with pepper spray or mace. Some of those arrested were charged with disorderly conduct and released, while others were charged with "rioting" and held. A thoughtful, eye-witness account from local writer Stephen Marsh concludes that the event "was a full-on dress rehearsal for the RNC."

The Star Tribune article reports police accounts of the arrests, and police statements that they were provoked by cyclists. For a very different view, see the stories of cyclists and bystanders on the City Pages website, describing police using pepper spray and tasers and beating cyclists, without provocation. For another account of the events, see Twin Cities IndyMedia. For a large collection of photos, see this Flickr posting.

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Jail

Submitted by Tony Webster on Sat, 2007-09-01 12:56.
Not only are they being held for "suspicion of rioting," they are being held without bail. I was told by someone at the jail that they will likely not have a bail set until Tuesday. --Tony Webster http://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/

Tony Webster
http://www.flickr.com/photos/diversey/

Too bad a good group has

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 2007-09-01 17:25.
Too bad a good group has been taken over by assholes. My first knowledge of critical mass was that it was to show that bicycles belong on the street along with other traffic and to promote the use of bicycles as safe transportation. Now it is a group that will turn people away from thinking that bicycles should be allowed. I came across this group last month and this month. No person who saw the agressive behavior would think that there was anything worth listing to from the group.

Critical Mass - leave the MPLS cycling alone.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2007-09-03 23:19.
I am a bicycle commuter myself and agree with the previous post about Critical Mass being taken over by assholes. Minneapolis is a great place to ride bike. We have excellent bike trails like the Greenway, Cedar Lake Trail, and dedicated bike lanes on Hennepin, for example. Many people have put energy into positive projects such as getting a pedestrian bridge built over Hiawatha on the greenway. What has Critical Mass done for MPLS? Spray-painting critical mass tags on the black top of these trails is counterproductive to the cause of making MPLS an even more bike friendly city. Here we've been given a great path connecting uptown and downtown and a group of jackass cyclists vandalizes it to assemble a protest preaching the rights of cyclists. These messages speak more the the people of the MPLS Park and Rec board than to any cyclist who rides over them. I watched the YouTube videos of the event and must say that there appeared to be plenty of aggressive behavior coming from the cyclists to intimidate the police. Assembling a group of cyclists that interrupts the flow of traffic is bound to create conflict, which is ok if it creates an opportunity to constructively discuss the issue and educate the misinformed. But if you add yelling and aggressive gesturing to this equation you are shutting down the opportunity to educate and inform your audience. What does this tell the non-cycling community? Cyclists are vandalizing maniacs disturbing the peace, keep them off the roads and quit maintaining bike paths for them.

Anarchists Planning a Protest?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2007-09-02 09:00.
It's a bit ridiculous that anarchists are planning anything. That would seem to violate their purpose as anarchists--to have no authority, especially not their own. Read "The Informer" by J. Conrad to get a sense of this: http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/jc/info.html.

True Anarchists Would . . .

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2007-09-02 09:03.
Hopefully the anarchists will be true to their principles of anti-authoritarianism and protest the DNC's functions too.

don't worry, we are.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2007-10-04 12:08.
don't worry, we are.

Police riot not covered by local papers

Submitted by Matt (not verified) on Mon, 2007-09-03 07:12.
It sounded more like the police were rioting, using a car to ram one of the cyclists and using additional weaponry on unarmed citizens. Should we blame the lack of reporting and coverage at the Star Tribune on the recent layoffs?

since when was a protest illegal in this country?

Submitted by DamnageD (not verified) on Mon, 2007-09-03 09:25.
Did we slip back in time to the 50's or 60's when I wasn't looking? I've seen the videos, read the reports and damned if this dosnet smack of LAPD style actions. Just WHAT exactly were the cyclists doing that justified this reaction from your local police? Riding the wrong way? Taking up too much roadway? Way to over react! Critical Mass is not an illegal action, the RNC is not WTO! Critical Mass cannot coordinate with anybody because it has no leader. Anyone can ride in it, and their participation is in no way a reason or excuse to attack, detain with bail, assault or otherwise harass individuals that just happen to be part of a peaceful protest. SHAME ON YOU, MINNEAPOLIS, SHAME! SHAME ON THE RNC MENTALITY. It's time for a Tea Party in this country! If those folks were really as dangerous as the police accuse, they would have turned on those bullies and a real "riot" would have ensued. Hell, it would have served them right!

Critical Mass Map

Submitted by Evelyn (not verified) on Mon, 2007-09-03 19:43.
I've made a narrated map of a portion of the 8/31 ride, the particularly nasty bit when police seemed to turn against us cyclists. The map, with my comments and links to video clips along the route, can be seen here.

I was a witness to this police brutality

Submitted by Janell (not verified) on Mon, 2007-09-03 20:50.
I was sitting at an outside table at Spyhouse Coffee when the police began using mace against the Critical Mass riders (a jolly, whimsical bunch who fit in very well with the Uptown crowd). The police were also using a low-flying helicopter (our tax dollars at work) to spot and follow the riders. I can attest that the police were bullying, threatening menaces that evening, and not at all the "officers of the peace" they pretend to be. There were many witnesses other than myself-- I saw families with small children watching, a man videotaping, and many more bystanders-- and all of us appeared to be APPALLED at the police officers behavior. My favorite part was the cop clown-car that zoomed by with doors hanging open and two officers sitting on the trunk laughing as they passed the maced riders, who had just been arrested for impeding traffic. Let me tell you, those two jokes were a great bit of hypocrisy. And God knows why the police chose to attack peaceful demonstrators in a neighborhood that supports them, when they could have been dealing with something important-- like murders on the North Side. I'm left with the burning question "How can I protect myself from the police?"

MPLS Critical Mass - leave cycling in MPLS alone

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2007-09-03 23:22.
I am a bicycle commuter myself and agree with the previous post about Critical Mass being taken over by assholes. Minneapolis is a great place to ride bike. We have excellent bike trails like the Greenway, Cedar Lake Trail, and dedicated bike lanes on Hennepin, for example. Many people have put energy into positive projects such as getting a pedestrian bridge built over Hiawatha on the greenway. What has Critical Mass done for MPLS? Spray-painting critical mass tags on the black top of these trails is counterproductive to the cause of making MPLS an even more bike friendly city. Here we've been given a great path connecting uptown and downtown and a group of jackass cyclists vandalizes it to assemble a protest preaching the rights of cyclists. These messages speak more the the people of the MPLS Park and Rec board than to any cyclist who rides over them. I watched the YouTube videos of the event and must say that there appeared to be plenty of aggressive behavior coming from the cyclists to intimidate the police. Assembling a group of cyclists that interrupts the flow of traffic is bound to create conflict, which is ok if it creates an opportunity to constructively discuss the issue and educate the misinformed. But if you add yelling and aggressive gesturing to this equation you are shutting down the opportunity to educate and inform your audience. What does this tell the non-cycling community? Cyclists are vandalizing maniacs disturbing the peace, keep them off the roads and quit maintaining bike paths for them.

Wait... so an organization

Submitted by gromit (not verified) on Tue, 2007-09-04 20:43.
Wait... so an organization called pReNC, which is "a group formed specifically to respond to the 2008 RNC in St. Paul", stages an event they consider to be basically a dress rehearsal for the RNC, and then when Minneapolis police are seen as treating it as a dress rehearsal for the RNC, people get upset? WTF?!? Seriously, if you haven't read Stephen Marsh's posting, do it. And stop being so shocked and shrill about it. -g

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