Protesters arrested at Mexican consulate in St. Paul

Some 30-35 demonstrators arrived at the consulate shortly before its 8 a.m. opening time. Consular officials refused to talk to the demonstrators and locked the doors to keep them out. St. Paul police quickly arrived on the scene.

Police told demonstrators not to block the sidewalk. Demonstrators said they respected that request. According to Eduardo Cardenas, “We did not block the sidewalk. Several people came in and out of the consulate without any problem or hassle at all.”

Within a short time, seven squad cars and a police wagon had arrived. Police ordered the demonstrators to leave, citing a St. Paul ordinance that requires a permit for demonstrations. According to one of the protesters, “It was kind of difficult to disperse, because people had left their cars or bikes where the cops were, so we weren’t exactly sure where to go.” Shortly after 9 a.m., the arrests began.

“We said we were trying to leave – but they said we were under arrest,” reported Luce Guillen-Givens. Four demonstrators and one bystander with a camera were taken into custody. They were released in the afternoon, after posting bail, and are awaiting notice of a court date, and of the charges against them.

Since mid-June, protesters led by teachers in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico have demanded the ouster of the state governor, Ulises Ruiz, because of corruption and abuse of power. During the occupation of radio stations, streets, and most of downtown Oaxaca (the capital city of the state of Oaxaca), the Popular Movement of the People of Oaxaca (APPO) maintained a commitment to nonviolence. Opponents, including local police and officials, met the protest with violence that took the lives of more than a dozen people, including striking teachers and a U.S. journalist. The journalist, Brad Will, was shot by local government officials October 27.

Military forces, sent by the federal government to end the protests, occupied Oaxaca October 29, causing four more deaths and arresting about 50 people. In response, protesters gathered at Mexican consulates around the world, from London to New Zealand, from Rio de Janeiro to New York – and in Minnesota.

Luce Guillen-Givens, one of those arrested in St. Paul, said that Minnesotans had begun to come together to support the APPO protesters a few weeks ago. “There wasn’t any particular group” organizing the action, according to Guillen-Givens.

Eduardo Cardenas explained that, “What’s going on in Oaxaca is an example for so many of us of how a pueblo [people] can come together in an incredibly organized way and stand up to the oppression that they feel, and do it for some months, and face the retaliation they have faced. They are an example and inspiration for us, who believe in what they are fighting for – for honest representation in their government and their leadership and a real democracy, an opportunity to have their needs listened to and met.”

A St. Paul city ordinance passed in 2005 requires that all demonstrations involving more than 25 people apply to the police department for permits. The application, and the application fee, are to be submitted, “At least five calendar days in advance of the proposed event for public assemblies of less than one hundred participants which will not interfere with the normal flow or regulation of vehicular traffic.” (St. Paul ordinances, Sec. 366A.04.)

Prior demonstrations at the consulate have been ordered to disperse by St. Paul police, even though fewer than 25 people were present, with police telling participants that any demonstration of any size was prohibited unless a permit was issued.

Mary Turck

Mary Tuck is the editor of the TC Daily Planet.