The goal of the RNC and Police are to arrest as many peaceful protesters as possible and hold them for 2-3 days so they are not able to protest the convention.
St. Paul is a police state and RNC not even started yet!
The police are out of control....they are acting like Nazis!
Glenn Greenwald Saturday Aug. 30, 2008 12:44 EDT
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis
[updated below (with video) - Update II - Update III]
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning -- one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.
Several of those who were arrested are being represented by Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers' Guild. Nestor said that last night's raid involved a meeting of a group calling itself the "RNC Welcoming Committee", and that this morning's raids appeared to target members of "Food Not Bombs," which he described as an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group. There was not a single act of violence or illegality that has taken place, Nestor said. Instead, the raids were purely anticipatory in nature, and clearly designed to frighten people contemplating taking part in any unauthorized protests.
Nestor indicated that only 2 or 3 of the 50 individuals who were handcuffed this morning at the 2 houses were actually arrested and charged with a crime, and the crime they were charged with is "conspiracy to commit riot." Nestor, who has practiced law in Minnesota for many years, said that he had never before heard of that statute being used for anything, and that its parameters are so self-evidently vague, designed to allow pre-emeptive arrests of those who are peacefully protesting, that it is almost certainly unconstitutional, though because it had never been invoked (until now), its constitutionality had not been tested.
There is clearly an intent on the part of law enforcement authorities here to engage in extreme and highly intimidating raids against those who are planning to protest the Convention. The DNC in Denver was the site of several quite ugly incidents where law enforcement acted on behalf of Democratic Party officials and the corporate elite that funded the Convention to keep the media and protesters from doing anything remotely off-script. But the massive and plainly excessive preemptive police raids in Minnesota are of a different order altogether. Targeting people with automatic-weapons-carrying SWAT teams and mass raids in their homes, who are suspected of nothing more than planning dissident political protests at a political convention and who have engaged in no illegal activity whatsoever, is about as redolent of the worst tactics of a police state as can be imagined.
hi you wonderful peace&justice-networkers! i am a singer/songwriter and will perform with my band at the byebye-US-nuclear-bombs-peace-happening end of august in Buechel/germany ( www.gaaa.org ) -we will audio&video-record the event and send it to you a.s.a.p. - so you can hear&see our confidence and our solidarity with our american friends , who work for the same goals ! Like Cindy Sheehan,Dennis Kucinich , Cynthia Mc Kinney ( RUN CYNTHiA RUN!!!!!!!!) , Vincent Bugliosi & all the other american Mahatma's !!.. we are all ONE in this beautiful work to restore sanity and bring back dignity to humanity with loads and loads of international solidarity !! i need a P.O.-BOX-adress of your radio-network! my e-mail-adress is ninahagendsz@yahoo.com DANKESCHÖÖÖÖÖÖN !!!! ich bin 1 berlina! my name is nina
I am a writer and speaker with a focus on stopping the Depleted Uranium poisoning and radioactive contamination of the US and the rest of the world. Please let me know if I can be a resource for you, or a radio show guest. I've done a bunch of radio shows.
Thank you so much for supporting Cindy Sheehan. She is a true gem if there ever was one!
Cindy For Congress appreciates and is trying to grow our online army. Do you have online friends that support what Cindy stands for? As you know Cindy stands for peace, accountability, freedom, and well being for all. She believes that war should be a last resort for defense and not the handy policy tool that it is currently being used as. She believes that healthcare is a basic right in a democratic society and should not be based on ability to pay. Cindy knows that it is essential to keep our representatives and leaders accountable to our Constitution and to democratic practices. She knows that we must retool our economy to be in harmony with the environment and its sustainability. Most importantly, Cindy understands that Americans are striving for a new type of politics that has meaning, puts people before profits and that challenges the divisive two party system.
Please send your friends to our page by going to our page and clicking on 'forward' and then choosing your friends that you believe will want to support Cindy in her bid against Nancy Pelosi.
You can also send out bulletins and ask your friends to join us at:
In addition to the Naval buildup, Gates has approved more troops and more funding in Afghanistan.
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 8, 1:48 PM ET
Article available on Yahoo news along with a CNN video.
Just my 1.5 cents--adjusted for inflation.
Choose your battles. Narrowing your focus conserves energy for the things that really matter...all of it matters. Let us not spread ourselves so thin that much of our intent is lost.
I share that from my experience. I am a unique antique, 22,265 days of living has taught me that we must stand together, but we need to divide the responsibilities among us. The logistics, if you will. Behind the scenes work is as valuable as those who are more visible.
In the days of the Vietnam War, there was no cohesion of the anti-war protest groups. I was arrested then released a few days before I deployed for Nam as an Army nurse.
It is my belief that people do not recognize the power we have, but we must use it swiftly and wisely.
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St.Paul is a police state and RNC not even started yet!
From: RAMBO - www. CampaignForLiberty. com
The police are out of control....they are acting like Nazis!
Glenn Greenwald
Saturday Aug.30, 2008 12:44 EDT
Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis
[updated below (with video) - Update II - Update III]
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning -- one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.
Several of those who were arrested are being represented by Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers' Guild. Nestor said that last night's raid involved a meeting of a group calling itself the "RNC Welcoming Committee", and that this morning's raids appeared to target members of "Food Not Bombs," which he described as an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group. There was not a single act of violence or illegality that has taken place, Nestor said. Instead, the raids were purely anticipatory in nature, and clearly designed to frighten people contemplating taking part in any unauthorized protests.
Nestor indicated that only 2 or 3 of the 50 individuals who were handcuffed this morning at the 2 houses were actually arrested and charged with a crime, and the crime they were charged with is "conspiracy to commit riot." Nestor, who has practiced law in Minnesota for many years, said that he had never before heard of that statute being used for anything, and that its parameters are so self-evidently vague, designed to allow pre-emeptive arrests of those who are peacefully protesting, that it is almost certainly unconstitutional, though because it had never been invoked (until now), its constitutionality had not been tested.
There is clearly an intent on the part of law enforcement authorities here to engage in extreme and highly intimidating raids against those who are planning to protest the Convention. The DNC in Denver was the site of several quite ugly incidents where law enforcement acted on behalf of Democratic Party officials and the corporate elite that funded the Convention to keep the media and protesters from doing anything remotely off-script. But the massive and plainly excessive preemptive police raids in Minnesota are of a different order altogether. Targeting people with automatic-weapons-carrying SWAT teams and mass raids in their homes, who are suspected of nothing more than planning dissident political protests at a political convention and who have engaged in no illegal activity whatsoever, is about as redolent of the worst tactics of a police state as can be imagined.
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Thank you so much for supporting Cindy Sheehan. She is a true gem if there ever was one!
Cathy Garger
www.mytown.ca/garger
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Thank you for all that you do!!
By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Fri Aug 8, 1:48 PM ET
Article available on Yahoo news along with a CNN video.
xoxo
Cindy
Choose your battles. Narrowing your focus conserves energy for the things that really matter...all of it matters. Let us not spread ourselves so thin that much of our intent is lost.
I share that from my experience. I am a unique antique, 22,265 days of living has taught me that we must stand together, but we need to divide the responsibilities among us. The logistics, if you will. Behind the scenes work is as valuable as those who are more visible.
In the days of the Vietnam War, there was no cohesion of the anti-war protest groups. I was arrested then released a few days before I deployed for Nam as an Army nurse.
It is my belief that people do not recognize the power we have, but we must use it swiftly and wisely.
Usual disclaimer of JMO
Skye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnP3JcOJg_A
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD!!!
And I have no tunes. I'm freakin tuneless. Life is hard.
I'm jealous that you already know how to add music though.
ke
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