Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention
Anti-War RNC March organizer responds to critics
Earlier this month, someone posted an article on this website called “March organizers failed to protect message.” As a member of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, I felt compelled to respond. The writer suggested that those who organized the permitted anti-war march on the opening day of the RNC should have tried to prevent “unruly protesters” from engaging in direct action or should have denounced those who did after the fact. The writer suggested that our message was stolen by “a few who acted mindlessly and that we should have stood side by side with police to denounce them. MORE »
VOICES | Dissent under fire at the RNC
“Our right to protest the government and its policies is not ‘suspicious behavior’; it’s Constitutionally protected speech.” Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office MORE »
After being blasted by pepper spray, RNC protester not angry at Minneapolis cops
by Paul Schmelzer, September 15, 2008 • One of the more disturbing clips, of way too many, from the Republican National Convention, is this one showing Leah Lane being repeatedly blasted with pepperspray by Minneapolis police officers who knock her down with their bikes.
Like Goldilocks, survey says police handled RNC ‘just about right’
Hey, someone’s been eating my constitutional rights!
After St. Paul announced last week that a man named Heffelfinger would review law enforcement during the Republican National Convention, a local TV station trumpeted what would seem to be Goldilocks’ view on the matter. MORE »
RNC protesters show and tell of injuries from cops
With city officials in St. Paul and Minneapolis alternately fanning and smothering the sparks of independent RNC policing investigations, this Minnesota Independent video offers a preview in black and blue of what sure-to-come civil lawsuits will bring to light about police misconduct during the Republican National Convention. MORE »
Cataloguing the RNC’s journalist detainees
Of the 800-plus people who were arrested or detained in conjunction with RNC protests, a good chunk of them — 42, by our count — were members of the news media. Media MORE »
St. Paul taps two to review RNC cops — but not misconduct
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman announced late Tuesday afternoon that the city will undergo an outside review of the public safety effort tied to the Republican National Convention — but its limited scope may not satisfy calls from various quarters for independent review of police misconduct. MORE »
Baghdad on the Mississippi
by Eleanor Arnason • I found a piece by Ray McGovern in Common Dreams on police action in St. Paul.
This sounds as nasty as I had feared: police spies and infiltrators and police preemptive strikes against people doing nothing illegal.
The St. Paul City Council? Only one member had the courage to speak out — Councilman Dave Thune, who was particularly enraged that Sheriff Fletcher took action within St. Paul city limits:
