Council Members Call for Investigation of RNC Police Tactics

Following the RNC protests, two Minneapolis City Council members have called for an investigation into police tactics used at the RNC. One of the council members previously critized the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office for a series of raids conducted on the Friday and Saturday before the protests.

9-5-08

Minneapolis Council Members Cam Gordon and Gary Schiff Call for Independent Investigation of RNC-Related Law Enforcement Actions

Throughout the Republican National Convention we have seen and heard a number of disturbing reports of actions taken by law enforcement, including the Minneapolis Police Department personnel, against journalists, observers, medics, bystanders, people engaged in peaceful protest and others.

We have also heard stories of patience and flexibility on the part of many law enforcement personnel. We thank and commend law enforcement for the service they provide and the many instances in the past few days where police as well as protesters have shown restraint and the ability to engage in healthy civic protest without incident.

Now that the convention is over, we join others calling for an independent, blue ribbon panel to conduct a thorough investigation into the events, decisions and policies surrounding security issues and the RNC, hold hearings and make recommendations for future policy changes.

The recent reports of law enforcement targeting observers and reporters, engaging in preemptive raids and questionable uses of force show a troubling pattern that is not consistent with our hopes for showing the world how our Cities respect the right to civic debate and are committed to preserving free speech during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

We believe that the health of our democracy depends [on] the ability of a free press to function and understand how our government’s actions encouraged or discouraged people to participate in political speech. While violence and property damage by protesters or others should not be tolerated we also know that safety should not be used [as] an excuse to limit a free press or stifle free speech.

Cam Gordon

Council Member, Second Ward

Gary Schiff

Council Member, Ninth Ward

Law enforcement officials in the Twin Cities have repeatedly justified their conduct as being appropriate for the “threats” that they faced and have said that if anything, they used “restraint.”

RNC Protest Organizers Speak to the Media

The RNC Welcoming Committee–an anarchist and anti-authoritarian group that organized for over a year in support of the protests against the Republican National Convention (RNC)–held a joint press conference with the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign on September 4 regarding the terrorism charges announced the day before against eight Welcoming Committee members, the violent tactics of the police to suppress dissent in St. Paul and across America, and the media’s role taking the word of the police without question and largely ignoring those who are denied basic resources in our society. One person who had been arrested testifies about having been tortured in the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Jail.

RNC Photo Essay: The Regular Folks who Protested

Twin Cities’ photojournalist Mike Dvorak shows us the faces of the American citizens who took to the streets of the RNC. Click here to view.

Protesters back in the streets Thursday

Despite a week of police repression, violence and arrests, protesters were back in the streets Thursday to demand an end to war,

injustice, poverty and a government that is clearly not “for the people.” 

In yesterday’s actions:

• Leadership

  of the antiwar committee was targeted and arrested at their evening march.

• Codepink’s

  banners disrupted John McCain’s speech inside the Xcel energy center.

• Democracy

  Now! reporters covered a protest and mass arrests on Marion

  Bridge where repression of

  journalists was deemed, “unprecedented in recent regional history.” Some examples: NBC Kare11’s cameraman and CBS WCCO’s cameraman Tom

  Aviles were arrested. Pioneer Press’ Ben Garvin and Uptake’s Susan were

  detained.

Check out the following Indy

News links for more recent RNC coverage:

• Amy

  Goodman Questions Ramsey County Prosecutors on Jailing, Charges of Journalists

• Hundreds

  of Jailed Protesters Held for 2+ Days Following Mass RNC Arrests

• 8 RNC Protesters Get

  Terror Charges Under PATRIOT Act

• 2 Journalists Swept Up

  in RNC Protests Released Anti-Flag

  Q&A: Police at Ripple Effect “dangerous”

• Cops

  came from Philly to learn to deal with nice people

• ‘If

  you are on this bridge you are under arrest’

• Liveblog:

  RNC march turns ugly as police use teargas, detain journalists

• Down time for the riot

  police

• Minneapolis

  Police Chief on Rage concert: ‘basically uneventful’

Minneapolis Fox 9 News Video Calls Twin Cities a “Police State”

Even Tom Lyden, reporter for the Twin Cities Fox station Channel 9, is affronted by the use of force against protesters and area residents during the RNC. Click here to view his report.

Video Clip from the “March for Our Lives”

Here’s a short video clip from the “March for Our Lives” as the diverse crowd of over 1,000 people marched under a highway en route to the state capitol:

RNC Updates: Protesters Still in the Streets

Despite law enforcement’s

continuing repression and brutality, protesters were back in the streets as

planned on Wednesday.

Below are links to headlines from other Indy media sources on the Web. Photo by Andy Birkey.

• A somber display about torture

• Police

  Fire Flash Grenades, Teargas at RNC Protesters

• Minn. Police

  Infiltrated RNC Protest Group

• Amy

  Goodman’s New Column: “Why We Were Falsely Arrested”

• RNC

  8 Charged with “Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism”

• Rage

  in the streets: Concert-goers peaceful, 102 arrested

• Alcohol,

  Tobacco and Firecracker?: ‘Explosion’ in St. Paul leads to rounding up

  anyone with a backpack

• Four members

  of CODEPINK arrested

• Detained

  at gunpoint, peace activists on ‘federal watch list’ are released without

  charge

• Prosecutors

  detail protest charges

• MnIndy

  Video: Anonymous riot cops snatch protesters near Palin bus, GOP delegate

  cries foul

• Photos:

  Terry Gydesen’s ‘The siege on St. Paul’

• RNC

  protest arraignments: Court sets high bails, sends juveniles to adult

  lockup

• Take

  Back Labor Day: Hip hop meets folk by the RNC riverside

Photos from the “March for our Lives”

Here are a few photos that Mediamouse.org took during the “March for our Lives” organized by the Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign. The march demanded access to affordable housing and healthcare.

Corporate media ignores citizens in the street, plays up “positive” police response to property destruction.

Scanning

the Webs of the major corporate media this morning, one finds little or no

reference to the thousands of U.S. citizens

who have taken to the streets of Minneapolis and St.

Paul to demand freedom and justice for all. The

one snippet of protest coverage found in the Sept. 2 edition of The Grand Rapids Press provided

unsubstantiated reports of police doing their job to keep rowdy protesters from

committing acts of vandalism.

 

Independent

media sources are covering the real news that is happening in the streets at

the RNC. Check out the current headlines:

Dispatches

from the Poor People’s march

Raiding Democracy in St.

Paul

Update:

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released

After Illegal Arrest at RNC

Youth

in iconic RNC protest photo was later beaten by police, according to his mother

Boot print on his back:

Photographs, video of 17-year-old RNC protester after run-in with police

Police Arrest Nearly 300 RNC Protesters

in St. Paul

Cindy McCain and Laura

Bush Speak at RNC

As

RNC Opens, Iraq Veterans Against the War March in St. Paul

A

Debate: Iraq Veterans Against the War vs. Vets for Freedom

Two of

Monday’s RNC arrestees appear in court

Odds

and ends from Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic

Jam-balaya:

Louisiana musicians unite to save the coastal wetlands at the best RNC party of

the week

What we mean

when we say ‘country first’

RNC: Day one

At least 10,000 protestors took to the streets Monday, the first day of the

Republic National Convention. Hundreds of them were arrested–and many hundreds

more mercilessly attacked by law enforcement with pepper spray, rubber bullets,

tear gas and brute force. There are even reports of horseback police trampling

protestors.

By 8 p.m. Monday, the Ramsey

County Sheriff’s department reported that its jail had processed 163

protesters:73 felony arrests, 42 gross misdemeanors and 48 misdemeanors. Arraignments

were to begin at 8 a.m. Tuesday. At 10:30 p.m. Monday, Coldsnap Legal Collective reported

much higher numbers: 284 arrests, 130 felonies, 51 gross misdemeanors and 103

misdemeanors.

Coldsnap’s web site also reported, “We’ve gotten many reports

that people are not getting proper medical attention, are being refused their

medication, and/or have been separated from the rest of the group. Also, there are also many felony

charges, which allow the state to hold the protesters for a longer period of

time. Felony charges have historically been used as

scare tactics against activists, and there is much less precedent for them to

hold up in court. More often, these bogus charges are simply used to keep

protesters off the streets and as a way to oppress and silence people.”

Photo by Anna Pratt/Paul Demko

More RNC headlines:

Update:

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar Released

After Illegal Arrest at RNC

RNC Gallery: Pictures and words from MnIndy reporters on the streets of St. Paul

MnIndy

Video: St. Paul’s High Bridge closure leaves only one route across the

Mississippi

Embedded

with the ‘anarchists’: RNC protests day one

Dispatches from

day one of the RNC

Vietnam

Veterans for Peace Demonstrate Against Fellow Vet John McCain

After

Being Detained in Preemptive House Raid, Democracy Now!’s Elizabeth Press Files

Report on Police Crackdown in St. Paul