Rex

Police raid RNC protest sites in Twin Cities By Abby Simons, Heron Marquez Estrada and Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune Last update: August 30, 2008 - 4:39 PM Ramsey County authorities conducted raids across Minneapolis and St. Paul Friday and Saturday as a pre-emptive strike against disruptive protests of the Republican National Convention. Five people were arrested and more than 100 were handcuffed, questioned and released by scores of deputies and police officers, according to police and elected officials familiar with the raids. In a statement Saturday morning, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the St. Paul raid targeted the RNC Welcoming Committee, a group he described as "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists...intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention." "These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers," Fletcher said. Deputies seized a variety of items that they believed were tools of civil disobedience: a gas mask, bolt cutters, axes, slingshots, homemade "caltrops" for disabling buses, even buckets of urine. But the raids drew immediate condemnation from activists and St. Paul City Councilman Dave Thune, whose district includes the former theater at 627 Smith Avenue South, which was rented by activists as a gathering space. "This is not the way to start things off," Thune said Saturday morning. "This is sending the wrong message. Regardless of how you feel about these people...they had a right to be there." On Saturday afternoon, law agents surrounded 951 Iglehart Av. in St. Paul where members of I-Witness Video, a New York-based group that monitors police conduct during protests, were staying. They were detained and handcuffed but eventually freed without charges. At a news conference Saturday, Cheri Honkala of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, one of the protest groups, described the Friday raid and an earlier one Thursday that evicted a demonstrators' camp on Harriet Island as "terrorism" intended to divert attention from issues the protest groups are raising and cast the news as police versus protestors. "We will not be intimidated," Honkala said. Thune was especially critical of Fletcher for taking action within St. Paul city limits. "I'm really ticked off...the city is perfectly capable of taking care of things," Thune said. "If they had found anything that could have been used to commit a crime they would have arrested somebody." Said Thune: "Unless they come up with anthrax or weapons of mass destruction, I think they came up short." Later Saturday, Fletcher described in a news release the items seized during the raids, which included a variety of "edged weapons"; glass bottles, rags and flammable liquids; "Old tires (for burning)," a gas mask and "Empty plastic buckest cut and made into shields." The RNC Welcoming Committee denied criminal intent and described the police actions as "violence" that is a sign of more extreme police measures to come. Three people were arrested and detained for probable cause conspiracy to commit a riot following a raid at 3240 17th Ave. S. in Minneapolis. Ten other people in the house were processed and released after about 90 minutes, said Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild. Nestor said the warrant used to search the home was identical to two others for searches at homes at 3500 Harriet Av. S. and 2301 23rd Av. S. in Minneapolis. One man was arrested at the 23rd Avenue S. house, and a fifth arrested at an "undisclosed location," according to the Ramsey sheriff's office. Nestor said the the warrant used to search the 17th Avenue house also matches the one used to raid the former theater in St. Paul that is the organizing site of the RNC Welcoming Committee. Nestor said he has not seen documents that support a reason for searching any of the locations, but that the warrant, signed by a judge on Friday, seeks multiple items, including electronics and MP3 players, rags, jars, Molotov cocktails, communication between RNC Welcoming Committee members, urine and feces. Those arrested could be held through the weekend, Nestor said. A judge will review their case within 48 hours. Nestor said the conspiracy to commit a riot charges are vague. "This is a charge that police use for preventive detention," he said. "It requires that no actual criminal act be committed and borders on criminalizing political advocacy." Nestor did not know whether the three were members of the RNC Welcoming Committee. Meanwhile, the group decried the Friday night raid on their organizing site as unwarranted, as evidenced by the lack of arrests after at least 50 people were detained. The group decried law enforcement's tactics, particularly because children and the elderly were present while the group was watching films and sharing food before the doors were broken down. "The police may claim that the raid was executed according to protocol - however, the violence inherent in this action may only be a hint of the violence to be expected on Monday and beyond, and is only a hint at the violence perpetrated daily by the police," the group's statement read. "(By) Looking for items found in any twin cities house like jars, paint, and rags, this attempt to portray us as criminals and destroy our credibility has already backfired as evidenced by the masses who have come to support us." the RNC Welcoming Committee said in a statement late Friday. An attorney for protesters said Ramsey County sheriff's deputies and St. Paul police officers handcuffed at least 50 people and made them lie on the ground for an extended period. The raid happened Friday night around 9 p.m. at the former Smith Theater on St. Paul's west side. Thune estimates that about 100 people were in the theater and detained. He said deputies knocked down the door using a police battering ram and then deputies went in with guns drawn, forcing people to the ground. The group says they are now accused of a fire code violation and the theater was boarded shut on orders of Fletcher. This last action also upset Thune, who said the sheriff had no authority to order city staff to keep people out of a building. Thune said he would be working with city officials today to re-open the building. Demonstrators said later Saturday that the building was being re-opened. Abby Simons ? 612-673-4921 http://www.startribune.com/politics/276952...?page=1&c=y

ST. PAUL (AP) ―Republican National Convention protesters targeted in a series of police raids Friday night and Saturday said they wouldn't back down from their plans to march on the convention's opening day. Organizers have said they hope to attract up to 50,000 people to the protest Monday. Four people were arrested at two Minneapolis homes and booked on probable cause of conspiracy to commit a riot, said Gina Berglund, an attorney helping to represent protesters. There were no arrests at a third home targeted. Later, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office said a fifth person was arrested at an undisclosed location. "A lot of people in the activist community are really on pins and needles about who's next," Berglund said. A fourth home, this one in St. Paul, was raided Saturday afternoon. Two people were detained outside the home in handcuffs for about two hours before St. Paul police arrived with a search warrant. St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh could not confirm whether anyone had been arrested. Eileen Clancy, one of the founders of a New York City video collective called I-Witness Video, sent an e-mail saying she was inside the house and was told she couldn't leave while police waited for a search warrant. Clancy said an employee of the collective -- whose Web site says it uses video to protect civil liberties -- was being held outside the house in handcuffs. On Friday night, Ramsey County sheriff's deputies raided an organizing site of a group -- the RNC Welcoming Committee -- that has publicized plans to disrupt convention activities. No one was arrested. "They will not crush our spirit," said protester Lisa Fithian from Austin, Texas, at a gathering of about 300 people in a Minneapolis park Saturday afternoon. "Our organization will continue. We will be on the streets." Dave Thune, a St. Paul city councilman whose district includes the theater building used as a hub for the protesters, denounced the raid, saying people had a legal right to assemble there. "We spent so much time trying to welcome people to the city and now this is the way we start out," he said. "It pretty much sucks." Arresting people on conspiracy charges to pre-empt disruptions is troubling because it stops people from exercising free-speech rights, said Chuck Samuelson, executive director of ACLU in Minnesota. He said he was also concerned about the broad scope of the search warrant. ACLU attorneys were monitoring the arrests, Samuelson said. In a statement, Sheriff Bob Fletcher said authorities moved to head off planned illegal acts. "These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers," Fletcher said. The RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist/anti-authoritarian group, has worked to help other protest groups with food and housing, but has also strategized to map roadways, bridges and access points to aid in disruptive protests. Jordan Kushner, head of the mass defense committee of the National Lawyers Guild's Minnesota chapter, denied that criminal activity was being planned. "They took away all their means of communication, so that they can't engage in legitimate political expression," Kushner said. "This is police state harassment and spying." The sheriff's office said it confiscated weapons on Saturday including a machete, hatchet and several throwing knives, empty glass bottles, rags and flammable liquids, homemade devices used to disable buses, metal pipes, axes, bolt cutters, sledge hammers, empty plastic buckets made into shields, an Army helmet, and large amounts of urine. Protesters said deputies also seized materials including laptops, protest literature and sign-making materials, bus schedules and a topographical map of St. Paul, site of Xcel Energy Center, the convention hall. Betsy Raasch-Gilman, a member of the RNC Welcoming Committee, said St. Paul officials decided to allow the building raided Friday to reopen. "We'll be using our space again," she said. "It's quite a significant victory and it shows the sheriff's department way overstepped last night." On Saturday, Randi McClure stood outside one of the raided homes where three people were arrested. Residents were forced to move out and told it was being boarded up for undisclosed building code violations, she said. "Where's their evidence? What are they doing? Obviously they're just trying to disrupt the protests," said McClure, 23, who was in the house at the time of the raid. Walsh, the St. Paul police spokesman, said city officers helped the county carry out a search warrant as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. "We've known all along that there are people coming to our city who are not planning to conduct themselves in a lawful manner," Walsh said. "This is an affirmation of that." Those arrested were Monica Bicking, 23, Eryn Trimmer, 23, Garrett Fitzgerald, 25, Nathanael Secor, 26, and Erik Oseland, 21. Nestor, one of their attorneys, said Bicking, Trimmer and Fitzgerald all are from Minneapolis. It wasn't immediately known where Secor or Oseland were from. http://wcco.com/rnc/St.Paul.targets.2.806711.html

good job Helms...

Uggla #28.....I'm not sure if we can ever have a big enough lead....

way to handle the problem yourself Josh....

I got the Braves feed....I wasn't watching the screen, but I always have the audio on....it's sounded like a braves player dropped a F*** bomb while throwing something against the dugout...

i have been watching the game live on mlb.tv and have had gameday loaded up aswell, and mine has been pitch for pitch up to date not sure why yours doesnt appear to be working right I got mlbtv also....it's been fine this season....I like to have a gameday on also so I can look up stats more quickly...

Seems to be loading thanks, but hellish slow. Looks like mlb.com have 'issues' - espn's fine, but their live updates blow! EDIT: "Gameday is currently not available for this game" Cheers mlb. Here's sportsline gameday: http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/l...0080827_FLA@ATL I think everyone get's their info from one guy, because if one source freezes up, they all seem to....

;kin typical! As soon as we get somewhere interesting, I can't connect to mlb.com to see the gameday. I HATE MLB.COM! try this link http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...mp;mode=gameday

way to go Hanley........you SOB(remembers last night)

Treanor has ALWAYS been a poor hitter. We got THREE FRIGGIN' CATCHERS, our offense sucks, and the worst hitting one is in the line up. Grrrr.... Well, I kinda understand the thinking though. Bake played last night, day game after a night game, so he's not playing today. LoDuca is liable to fall into pieces if he doesn't get his rest, so that's probably why he isn't in it. Sadly, that only leaves Matty. Blame Misty....she threw the 1st pitch to Matt....Fredi figured that since Matt was already "warmed up" he just as well get the start..... :wacko

'stros 6 Mutts 4 F/10 really wish we coulda won last night oh well guess theres still hope. I talked to Capt. Obvious recently, and he said we just need to get a winning streak going soon....we'll be right back in it..... :cool our longest winning streak since the AS break(35 games) has been 2 games(3 different times)....IMO....it's amazing that we're not 10+ GB.....

'stros 6 Mutts 4 F/10

Ricky, Ricky, helping yourself out....

30 pitch inning from ricky if my mind serves me correctly ricky often struggles in the 1st then settles down http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=6491 towards the bottom they have his splits determined by inninig/pitches

way to strand the runners Ricky...

But isn't Davis the guy that Jacobs is like 6 for 8 against? I mean we finally get a pitcher Jake has a good track record against, and Fredi benches him? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=6385

But isn't Davis the guy that Jacobs is like 6 for 8 against? I mean we finally get a pitcher Jake has a good track record against, and Fredi benches him? http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=6385

D-Backs feed on MLBTV....just showed Misty(at the ballpark) with her gold medal.....nice ovation from crowd....

Misty's hugging a few guys in the stands.....must get pretty lonely....j/k

Hermida #16

Congrats Admin.... :notworthy I remember one of the previous forums I used the moniker "Alvin Taustig".....the only time I've used a moniker without Rex in it....

HRamirez #27

I want them to start showing track and field! When does it start? And gotta see that USA vs Cuba in baseball. T&F starts 08/14th http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/schedule?discId=3 USA vs. Cuba scheduled for 08/14th, 11:30pm ET http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/schedule?discId=5

c'mon 'hammer....knock those RISP in....