March on the RNC

September 16, 2008 09:23.02 PM

On September 1st, we flew out to Minneapolis/St. Paul to perform at the "March on the RNC To Stop the War," where, despite what you may have seen in the media, 30,000 gathered to demand an end to the war, an end to the Republican agenda and a reallocation of war resources back to housing, food and schools here at home. See photos and watch this clip from The Laura Flanders show, with us performing "Vote!"

What you probably saw in the media and what we saw in the streets of MSP for the rest of the week was exactly the opposite of those demands: pre-emptive raids on activist houses and organizations, a war against demonstrators peaceably assembling, the arrest of journalists, and a police state put into place to enforce the Republican agenda, thanks to a $50 million dollar allocation for riot gear and weapons, including batons, tasers, tear gas, pepper spray and concussion grenades, which police forces were not reluctant to use.

Activists we know agree that this was the most vicious policing they had seen at a national event. So much so that people were brutalized not just during arrests but after they were in police custody. At the end of the week, we attended the press conference of the RNC Welcoming Committee where we heard testimony from a young man who was hooded and put in stress positions while in custody. (Read the transcript at Democracy Now!) He was still limping as he walked off the stage.

We later learned that, after the sizable payouts they had to make for mass arrests and police brutality lawsuits after the 2004 Convention in NYC, the RNC had taken out a $10 million insurance policy to cover potential lawsuits in the Twin Cities. Many activists felt that this ending up giving the policing forces in the TC "license" to brutalize since the "penalties" were already covered.

One of the organizers for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, which led a march on the last day of the convention, also spoke at RNC Welcoming Committee press conference. He asked, "Why are we being called violent? We were not the ones shooting rubber bullets and throwing concussion grenades."

Contact these government offices in the Twin Cities to denounce the police brutality, mass arrests and to demand that charges be dropped:
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (651.266.8510)
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher (651.266.9333)
County Chief Judge Gearin (651.266.8266)
St. Paul City Attorney John Choi (651.266.8710, john.choi@ci .stpaul .mn.us)
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner (651.266.3222, RCA@co.rams ey.mn. us)
Governor Tim Pawlenty (651.296.3391, tim.pawlenty @state. mn.us
St. Paul Chief of Police John Harrington (651.266.5588, john.h arringt on@ci.st.paul.mn.us)
And donate to the legal defense fund for individual arrestees and the RNC8 who need to raise $250,000.

This update came from our enewsletter Sept. 15th, 2008. Sign up to get our monthly enewsletters!

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