27 RNC arrestees file lawsuit against St. Paul

Twenty-seven people arrested at the Republican National Convention last September filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Tuesday morning against the city of St. Paul for what the plaintiffs allege was a violation of their First and Fourth Amendment rights.

On September 1, 2008, St. Paul police directed about 200 people — some protesters and others trying to access a free concert on Harriet Island — onto a piece of parkland along Shepard Road by the Mississippi River. Riot police arrested the entire group and detained many.

The suit filed Tuesday states police arrested and jailed them without probable cause. Bob Kolstad, the attorney representing all 27 plaintiffs, said he hopes for the suit to gain class action status within a few months.

If certified as a class-action suit, all 200 people arrested will be plaintiffs in the suit against the city.

One of the people in the suit, Vain Mainstream, was arrested and detained for three days by St. Paul police at the Republican National Convention, but was never charged with a crime. As a result he lost his full-time job, he said.

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