Commentary
The following is a report from the Twin Cities (that's Minneapolis/St. Paul, the site of the Republican National Convention)Indy Media. Needless to say the lock down of these cities during these 'events' by the police puts a severe crimp in the democratic facade the ruling oligarchy likes to portray. As an equal opportunity commentator on the vagaries of bourgeois politics I note that in Denver, the site of the Democratic National Convention 100 or so protesters were arrested. Nice work, DNC, RNC.
300 Arrested in Protests
Two days into the Republican National Convention (RNC),more than 300 people have been arrested, including at least 120 people for felonies -- mostly the notoriously vague charge, 'conspiracy to riot.' With no provocation, police have indiscriminately used rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and chemical irritants to disperse crowds and incapacitate protesters. Police appear to be specifically targeting videographers documenting these police abuses. In response, lawyers have
filed a federal restraining order against such conduct.
By the end of the day today, only 12 people had been arraigned. Many arrestees are refusing to provide identification, in order to call attention to what they consider trumped-up charges and to collectively bargain. 'These tactics are designed to protect the most vulnerable people in jail, and take a page from the history of labor solidarity,' said Rick Kelley of Coldsnap Legal Collective, an activist-based legal collective supporting the arrestees. 'Based on the vagueness of their
charges and the program of police intimidation currently underway, these
individuals understand how they will fare if they don't stick together.'
The court has been imposing the maximum bail of $2,000 for misdemeanor
defendants.
In an unusual court decision, Ramsey County Judge Paulette K. Flynn today convicted two minors of criminal contempt for refusing to provide their identity. The two minors were then sentenced to 30 days in an adult jail facility. 'This decision undermines one of the most fundamental human rights concepts in the justice system, to protect the rights and safety of children,' said Jordan Kushner, Mass Defense
Committee Chair of the National Lawyers Guild's Minnesota chapter, and an attorney for one of the minors. 'This shows the willingness of the courts to go to any length, including sacrificing the most important due process rights, to answer to the political pressure to persecute activists.'
Many arrestees are also being denied medical attention. One arrestee with hemophilia and another with asthma are being denied their prescription medication. An arrestee with a broken finger is being refused medical care, as is a person who has been coughing up blood. An anemic woman reported to Coldsnap today that she passed out for 20 to 30 minutes due to iron deficiency and was told that she could not receive iron because it was a prescription medication, and because she refused to identify herself.
Iron is in fact an over-the-counter supplement. The same anemic woman reported seeing a Sheriff knock another woman to the ground and drag her out of the room by her hair. 'Just because people have been jailed does not mean their health should be put in jeopardy,' said Kelley. This is a matter of compassion and basic human rights.
Under Minnesota law, detainees must be released after 36 hours if the court fails to review and affirm probable cause for their charges. This 36-hour period will expire at noon on Wednesday.
I took part in the main march on Monday. It was generally peaceful, with some problems on streets away from the route. I saw some skirmish, only from the corner of my eye. I couldn't even see who the police were chasing.
ReplyDeleteSomeone I know had their house raided. He owns two addresses in the same building. The warrant had a wrong address from the actual raid. He was housing videographers.
Raids before the march, decreased attendance.
I wrote on my blog about the politics of the demos. It was ultra left or oppurtunist.
Here is an update from the AP. Again, drop all charges against the protestors. These charges seem particularly bizarre. We will discuss our political differences with our anarchist friends separately. However the gap between Marxists and anarchists is nothing compared to the gap between both groups and the Republicans (or Democrats and Greens for that matter).
ReplyDeleteASSOCIATED PRESS
Eight protesters face riot, terrorism charges
ST. PAUL - As police and protesters continued to clash outside the Republican National Convention, county prosecutors charged eight people yesterday with conspiring to cause a riot as part of a terrorist act.
The eight were arrested after raids of homes in the Twin Cities conducted before the convention began by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department.
The charges are highly unusual because of the addition of terrorism to the crimes. Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said she could recall no such cases in her 24 years with the prosecutor's office. Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, which is representing several people, called the charges ridiculous.
Seven of the eight are being held at the Ramsey County Jail on $75,000 bond: Max Jacob Specktor, 19, Erik Charles Oseland, 21, Eryn Chase Trimmer, 23, Luce Guillen-Givins, 24, Nathanael David Secor, 26, and Robert Joseph Czernik, 32, all of Minneapolis; and Garrett Scott Fitzgerald, 25, of Kasota, Minn.
Monica Rachel Bicking, 23, of Minneapolis was released earlier in the week.
According to the complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court, the eight are leading members of the RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist coalition.
For at least two years, the group mapped out ways to use violent methods to disrupt the convention and prevent delegates from entering the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul, according to the filing.
Just a couple of notes from the 2004 Democratic party Convention in Boston in 2004. These mainline political parties have learned something since the police riots of 1968 at the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Keep the riff-raff (that’s us) away from the paying customers (that’s them). The march to the current version of the old Boston Garden was one of the weirdest marches I had ever been on. We were, as we approached the Convention Hall, funneled into a maze-like complex far from the entrance. I believe that we were still in Boston but for all intents and purposes we might as well have been in that previously mentioned Chicago on that day. Strange, indeed.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly, and something that I solicit comment on, this march was held on the Sunday before the opening Monday of the convention. There were probably a couple of thousand of us. Why so few? Well, one reason was that several miles away on the campus of UMass/Boston the Social Forum types (you remember them, don’t you?) were having their meetings to discuss various ways to change the world, etc. without the necessity of ‘disrupting’ the normal business that was to go on at the Democratic convention. This is merely another example of that funny little tendency for these parliamentary-type left political oppositionists to duck when election time comes around, especially when the Democrats nominate anyone to the left of Genghis Klan. The Social Forum too could have been held in Chicago that week. Not so strange.
Read Renegade Eye's blog on the events on the streets of Minneapolis and his take on the politics. Markin
ReplyDelete