CRASS press conference looks for RNC victims in St. Paul

love the lede :-)

Jason Johnson is from Indiana - not Iowa. Bill Drebenstedt is a member of, and spoke on behalf of, the Anit-War Committee. He was never involved with the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War in any way other than participating in their September 1, 2008, march. Thanks for covering this event! Below is the complete statement from the AWC: Thirty thousand people came to the Twin Cities in an effort to thwart a criminal conspiracy. They came to do what good citizens do - they acted where they saw lawlessness. They learned that this criminal enterprise is larger and more embedded in our political, economic and "justice" systems than we could have ever imagined. We now know that the RNC war machine is defended by thugs hiding their faces behind masks and dressed in black, intent on causing bodily harm to and intimidating those who dare to stand up to the very people who spread oppression and death throughout the world. We saw the St Paul Police Department and Ramsey County Sheriff's Office react violently and with extreme brutality to mere expressions of dissent. And now the St Paul Police Department and Ramsey County Sheriff's Office want to help victims of RNC-related violence? They want to hold the perpetrators accountable? The Anti-War Committee certainly supports aiding survivors of the mayhem that was the RNC. We definitely would like to see those responsible for the violence held accountable for their actions. You will have to forgive us, though, if, after witnessing and experiencing the pepper spray, tear gas, concussion grenades, rubber bullets, tasers, preemptive raids, illegal detentions, unwarranted searches, false arrests and malicious prosecutions, we are not quick to heed the calls of the St Paul Police Department and the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office. The Anti-War Committee has a proud, 10-year history of organizing vigils, rallies, marches, educational forums, street theater and civil disobedience actions to challenge the injustices of U.S. foreign policy. We organized a demonstration that took place on September 4, 2008, where 396 people were arrested, many brutalized with tear gas, pepper spray, and projectiles fired at close range. None of these people have been charged by the St Paul City Attorney because none did anything wrong. It is wrong for that kind of force to be deployed against anyone, but it is especially wrong when it is deployed against people who have committed no chargeable offense. We proudly stand in solidarity with a true community coalition, the Community RNC Arrestee Support Structure, in a call for real justice. We echo their call for those who were terrorized to come forward. We also call on the public and the cities of St Paul and Minneapolis to come forward with evidence or information leading to the identification of the individuals involved. We demand that the City of St Paul release its much talked about 6,000 hours of surveillance camera footage. We will not be pacified by a whitewash on the part of the RNC Public Review Safety Commission. We call for an open and thorough investigation of police misconduct. Politicians like St Paul Mayor Chris Coleman authorized, funded and secured insurance policies for the militarization of St Paul by thousands of armed officers, resulting in the brutality and misconduct we are talking about today. They are not to be trusted to mandate the kind of investigation that is required now. We demand that all criminal charges against those arrested pursuant to the preemptive raids and during the RNC be dropped immediately. It is time to bring efforts to repress dissent to a halt, especially when those efforts are led by corrupt and dishonest officials like Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher. Let us be very clear about this, Fletcher and St Paul Police Chief John Harrington have unleashed a propaganda campaign consisting of blatant lies in an effort to justify the orders they gave. They are the ones who need to be brought up on criminal charges. They are the ones who have committed the most egregious of crimes - the denial of the most basic human rights to be free from harm and to self determination. They need to be removed from their positions. We seek what the Anti-War Committee has sought for 10 years - justice and human rights for all people in the Twin Cities, throughout this nation and around the world.

Sheila, I was the self described Street Medic and Indy Media Journalista there, that pointed out that the corporate media would not cover the topic of police torturing protesters in Ramsey County Jail. I was right about the corporate media presstitutes. Thank you for this article