As many of you remember, the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota was a scene of protest, civil disobedience, and gross misconduct by the Ramsey County Sheriff, Bob Fletcher, the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Departments, and Federal use of Secret Service and National Guard troops.
The RNC 8, arrested in pre-convention house raids, face a judge today and potentially 20 years in jail.
A Call-in has been organized to protest the charges (3 additional felony counts were added over the weekend) and I urge everyone to get involved.
So many stories from that convention were never told as journalists were rounded up and arrested (including local tv news folks, a couple from FOX, some AP reporters, and, of course, Amy Goodman).
People sitting in a park, people with visible press credentials, street medics, kids, Lawyers' Guild volunteers, the wheelchair bound, no one was immune from preemptive raid, being held at gunpoint, pepper spray, physical assault, and arrest.
At least 42 journalists were arrested (that number likely does not include all the bloggers.)
Timothy Karr did some fabulous reporting on Huffington Post about how journalists were actually targeted. He posted several reports all well worth reading.
Glass Bead Collective was one of the first groups detained, having their video equipment, cell phones, notes, and portable hard drive confiscated.
Glass Bead Collective is a sort of live art, video documentary, audio sampling mirror of our cultural experience and our place in it.
They have their documentary online about the protests in St. Paul and the police response to it called Terrorizing Dissent.
It is in 4 parts. Each is about 30-35 minutes long except part 4 which is about 20 minutes.
It's a bit rough and ends abruptly but they had rushed to get this done before the election so I am hopeful they will do another (and updated) version.
I've embedded the high bandwidth versions but you can also get a low bandwidth version as well as downloads and BitTorrent here.
Everyone should watch this. Everyone.
Background on the preemptive raid and arrests with interviews appear in part 3.
Favorite lines of the documentary: "I would believe you if you were a firefighter." and "I'm being charged with a felony... for DANCING?"
Another great moment: the rush of protesters into the "Free Speech Zone" cage chanting, "Whose cage?" "OUR cage!" "Whose cage?" "OUR cage!"
For the RNC 8 there is a long road ahead. They have been charged with Conspiracy to Riot in the Furtherance of Terrorism.
There are a lot of questions surrounding the Ramsey County Sheriff Department's Bob Fletcher and his tactics.
St. Paul City Council member, Lee Helgen voiced surprise that Fletcher (who had faced being ousted from office 5 years ago and had just survived an attempt to change his position to an appointed rather than elected office) was out in front, doing press conferences and fielding follow ups rather than the St. Paul Police Department.
But Sheriff Fletcher defended his actions.
"What we're trying to do in this room is analyze everything that occurred on Sept. 1 this year," Fletcher said. "All the persons who were arrested are posted here as well as any particular connection to their activity."
In the county's Law Enforcement Center, Fletcher and his investigators have taped mug shots, maps and various photos of protesters during the RNC to the walls of one room.
Investigators say they're scouring through thousands of hours of video taken of protesters and police. They find a lot of it on YouTube and the indy media outlet, the Uptake.
Fletcher said tracking what happened on the first day of the RNC is crucial because it shows the Welcoming Committee carried out a year's worth of planning on that day.
Fletcher said that evidence could be used in the prosecution of the so-called "RNC Eight." They have been arrested on the felony charge of conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism. It's believed to be the first time Minnesota has used the post-9/11 terrorism enhancement.
Of course, the ACLU has spoken up and have had teams of lawyers at arraignments.
Over 800 people were arrested during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. 487 misdemeanor citations were issued and 18 felony charges were filed.
While the journalists who were arrested will not be prosecuted, they were hampered in doing their jobs. In fact, they were shackled. A free press does not generally have their wrists zip tied behind them and their notes and media confiscated.
Most arrestees were released without charge like my son whose experiences I diaried about previously.
Many more had their cases dismissed but those charges will forever show up on criminal background checks and the arrestee will have to petition the court to have their record expunged to prevent any future complications.
Amy Goodman did an interview with Representative Keith Ellison on September 2nd.
He had originally thought the police would handle things in a routine manner but by the second day he was very concerned:
And when you hear about journalists getting arrested, it's very disturbing. I mean, the news gatherers -- how can the people know, if they don't have news gatherers to gather the news and show them? But when those folks are being intimidated and even roughed up, it's pretty -- it actually is a threat to democracy and the First Amendment.
There were a handful of self described anarchists who vandalized property or committed acts of violence. There were also provocateurs who instigated violence, including some of those who had infiltrated the Welcoming Committee, Food Not Bombs and other groups and found their efforts unsuccessful. Note the infamous Macy's window smasher as the police stand there and watch and then he manages to "escape" arrest.
But the tactics in St. Paul of mass arrests without cause, falsified warrants, raiding wrong addresses with M16's drawn, and herding marchers into areas with no egress and then lobbing tear gas at them from rooftops were criminal.
If you haven't seen or read Naomi Wolf's The End of America, I highly recommend you do so.
There were also phalanxes of men in black wearing balaclavas, linking arms and behaving menacingly — alleged "anarchists." Let me tell you, I have been on the left for thirty years and you can’t get three lefties to wear the same t-shirt to a rally, let alone link arms and wear identical face masks: these are not our guys. Agent Provocateurs framing protesters and calling protest "terrorism" constitutes step ten of a police state...
- from Sarah Evita Palin, the Muse of the Coming Police State.
Today is court day and 3 additional felony charges were added over the weekend for the RNC 8.
We MUST take action.
The RNC 8 cases have now been consolidated under Judge Salvador Rosas. This Saturday, Ramsey County amended their complaint against the 8 to include 4
felony counts of conspiracy:
Count 1 - conspiracy to riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism (the original charge)
Count 2 - conspiracy to riot in the second degree (without terrorism enhancement)
Count 3 - conspiracy to damage property in furtherance of terrorism
Count 4 - conspiracy to damage property (without terrorism enhancement)
If convicted, they are facing over 2 decades in prison. The RNC 8 have their next court date all together on Wednesday, December 17th at 1:00pm. During this time, the 8 will sit down with their lawyers, the prosecution and the judge to begin scheduling the future dates of their trial. In solidarity with the 8 and the other RNC arrestees facing felony cases, please take time to call or e-mail
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner's office Tuesday and Wednesday December 16th and 17th. We are demanding that ALL CHARGES BE DROPPED.
Call (651)266-3222 or e-mail RCA@co.ramsey.mn.us (cc: info@rnc8.org)
and demand that Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner drop the Felony charges against RNC arrestees. Tell her that you are watching the "RNC 8" case very closely and that no good DFL gubernatorial candidate would prosecute anyone for political organizing of this kind.
It is being stressed to be polite but firm in your messages. What you say or write can have a tremendous impact on the lives of these young people so please stay on point.
If protesters had been allowed their right to assemble and speak and the press had been allowed to do their jobs without intimidation or detention would these people be having to face a judge today?
If Susan Gaertner weren't planning a Gubernatorial run would she be less inclined to play the Tough on Terrorists card, however falsely?
The fact remains, the only ones who can take our country back are us. That was why Obama's campaign struck a chord with so many. It reminded the complacent that We the People are our government.
We must act.
Thank you for reading/watching/helping.
UPDATE - Pretrial motion dates were set by the judge (Salvador Rosas) for January 26, 2009. The judge also requested the parties not discuss the details of the case with the press but did not issue a formal gag order.
From City Pages blog:
That request -- which was not a formal gag order -- was apparently breached almost immediately when defense attorneys discovered that Gaertner's office had issued a statement, prompting the RNC8 attorneys to rush back to the judge's chambers en masse. The result was that Gaertner's office pulled back its release, which had defended the county attorney against various allegations brought by RNC8 supporters and detailed her job description as it relates to the case, according to Celia Kutz, spokeswoman for the Friends of the RNC8.
The Prosecutor's office is attempting to get a court order to keep the RNC 8 from sharing information with each other.
Per Minnesota Independent, Gaertner's statement read, in part:
Contrary to the assertions of some individuals supporting them, the defendants are not being singled out for prosecution for political reasons, or to silence the free speech we all cherish. Plain and simple, they face these charges because they broke laws that apply to them, and to all others, equally. ...The evidence shows that these defendants, rather than being victims of oppression, planned to deprive others both inside and outside the convention hall of their free speech rights through acts of violence.
The mood remains light, apparently:
More than 50 people were in the courtroom, including the eight defendants (who stuffed themselves onto a single bench in the gallery), at least two of their fathers, 14 lawyers, three deputies, several reporters and one baby. Victor the bomb-sniffing dog searched the courtroom as people arrived, prompting one defense attorney to voice a tongue-in-cheek protest: "I find that offensive — as if we wouldn’t tell our clients to leave their bombs at home."
the RNC 8 issued a response to Gaertner which can be found here.