Report from Monday's Actions at the RNC!

by Sonia Silbert, Co-Coordinator of the Washington Peace Center.(scroll all the way down for "how to help")

9/3/08:  Report from Monday's actions at the RNC

The number of riot cops on the streets of St Paul on Monday was overwhelming.  In the quiet neighborhood where I'm staying with a friend, 3 miles from downtown, there were lines of cops in full riot gear - helmets, pads, pepper spray, batons, etc - lined up because the student contingent was marching from nearby Macalaster College.  Those students are pretty scary I guess. 

IVAW:
I started the morning supporting Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) as they marched to the Excel Center to demand a meeting with McCain's staff over his awful record supporting veterans issues, health care in particular.  About 70 vets marched in uniform and full formation - one representative was escorted inside and was denied a meeting by the McCain staff.  Despite being a vet and claiming to "support the troops", McCain has an awful record on vets issues - he votes with the vets on veterans issues only 20% of the time.  Obama votes with them 80% of the time - way better but still pretty lousy given how much they all claim to be friends of the veterans. 

It was a pretty intense action to watch, and even more so to be a part of it seems.  A lot of the vets had emotional reactions to being back in uniform and marching again - some of them said it brought out an anger and arrogance they've tried to expunge from themselves when they returned from Iraq.  Others were even more upset later on seeing how the cops treated protesters - one said that he had enough experience taking away people's rights and hated seeing others doing what he had done and now rejected. 

ON THE STREET:
Afterwards I formed an affinity group with about 10 people who wanted to provide support for blockades and other direct actions but wanted to avoid risking arrest.  We headed into the streets ahead of the large, permitted march that was still rallying behind us.  Within three blocks we came across dozens of riot police blocking streets and donning gas masks - one person had been pepper sprayed and was sitting in serious pain being treated by friends.  There were no protesters in sight, only a few dozen people (some with children) sitting on grassy lawn watching the cops march back and forth.  As we kept walking, the city seemed deserted - the only people out were small bands of protesters and large groups of riot cops dressed all in black and blue groups of bicycle cops.  We left the spot where the riot police were and headed to a report of a blockade and arrests a little ways away - as we walked we saw "Funk the War" the protest dance party organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) come towards the cops and realized that that's who they had been waiting for.  This was about 15 minutes after leaving the permitted space and we got the text message that the SDSers had been tear-gassed and pepper sprayed within minutes. 

Soon we heard reports that the National Guard was on the street and we saw them soon after - camouflage tanks were rolling down the streets and National Guardsmen (and ladies) were in full camo, with helmets and rubber bullet rifles. 

We spent the next few hours going from blockade to blockade, watching the cops search, detain and arrest people.  We got to one of the main entrances for delegates right when many were walking and busing in.  We had heard there had been a blockade there and would be one again.  We met up with the Pagan Cluster, a group of about 20, and what remained of Funk the War, which was two big sound systems on wheels and perhaps 15 dancing folks.  All of them walked right into the street in front of the delegate entrance and started dancing and spinning balls of yarn around so that delegates had to maneuver over and under a maze of yarn in order to reach the entrance.  The delegates were mostly on foot and weaved through us in order to get in, passing right next to us in an odd opportunity for us to ask them to support our troops and let them come home. 

Soon the cops brought out horses and stood around looking tough.  Once they realized that the delegates were actually having to interact with the crazy protesters, they shepeared them all together and tried to keep them separate from us, but the dance party would just move to be in front of them.  Then, in the weirdest decision, the cops on horses created a V and walked straight through the dance party, pushing all the protesters with the horses and keeping the delegates in the middle of the V up against the horses' butts.  The protesters were all pushed over and scared by the horses, but the delegates were in the middle of this big mess, squeezed by the horses, and looked frightened out of their wits - some of them looked like they were in High School. 

The police and horses got more and more confrontational, pushing people around as the dance party continued and the pagans started doing a spiral dance in the middle of the street.  We got reports that they were diverting all delegate buses to another entrance on the far side of the Excel Center, and that there were other actions in need of support, so my group headed off. 

Throughout the day we heard reports and met people (including journalists) who had been pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed and saw the cops use rubber bullets and concussion grenades.

ILLEGAL ARRESTS:
We came across a mass arrest around 4 pm - arrests were happening on all three street corners.  My buddy team stayed with 2 people face down in a parking lot with National Guardsmen standing over them with rubber bullet rifles.  I went over and asked if they were okay and if anyone had called Legal yet - they were grinned at me and said they were Legal.  They were members of the legal collective and I don't know why they were arrested - they looked a little too scruffy.  When I called in their arrests, I asked the Legal line if anyone had called in the mass arrests across the street yet - There probably 50 riot cops and 30 or so arrestees, as well as 20 or so spectators being held back by the line of cops.  The arrestees were handcuffed and sitting in a line in the sun (it's about 90 degrees) and I can see one guy's head is bleeding, even from 20 yards away where we're held.  The arrestees start chanting "We need medics!  We need medics!" but no medics are allowed in.  Within a half hour, I see one of the medics that had asked to provide medical care arrested and handcuffed with the rest of the protesters. 
 
Next thing, we realize that two members of our "non-arrestable" affinity group are being held with the other arrestees as well.  Kari had been taking pictures all day and her buddy Jonathan stuck with her and were her eyes while she was in her camera mode.  They had gotten swept up in that mass arrest and was taken away.  We later found out that they were being charged with felonies - today is Wednesday and they still have not been released.  Kari got one quick phone call to her mother who was freaking out.  We're not in touch with her mom and we're hoping they'll be arraigned and released today.  The felony charges are pretty wild though - they were with the 10 of us all day and hadn't been near any of the actions, let alone any violence. 

My buddy pair stuck together and walked up to find the rest of our group - as we did, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! ran past us - in the 5 minutes it took for us to walk around the block to where Jonathan and Kari were handcuffed, Amy was arrested along with two other producers of DN.  The two producers were also charged with felonies.  I know Amy is accredited and award-winning and everything, and her arrest was utterly illegal and unacceptable, but Jonathan and Kari are unaccredited journalists in their own right and their arrest while taking photos is just as illegal and unacceptable.  Amy and her producers were released later that evening, as well they should've been, but our friends are still in jail.

After Jonathan and Kari's arrest, another buddy pair, David and Tobin, went up to a parking garage across the street to get a better view and see if we knew any other arrestees and could call their names into Legal.  They were followed in by a gang of bicycle cops, detained and searched.  We went to find them and were threatened with arrest by the cops also and crossed the street.  David has short hair, tucked in shirt, etc, and they released him after searching him and his bags.  Tobin is 17 years old, has long hair and baggy pants, and the cops claimed they recognized him from actions earlier in the day.  Again, Tobin had been running with us all day long and we'd been doing our best to avoid any action that was vaguely arrestable.  The cops cuffed Tobin and walked him across the street with the rest of the mass arrest and took him away as well.  We didn't see him again.  He's a juvenile, no record and did nothing wrong except fit a profile.  It's now Wednesday and he too is still not out of jail - two nights spent there.  His freaked-out dad took a plane here at 6 am the next morning and is anxiously stalking juvenile jail. 

We waited a few hours to watch our friends be booked, photographed and taken away.  While handcuffed, Kari managed to get the memory card out of her camera and hide it in a crack in the cement where she was staying.  Jonathan then called over to us, in super-secret code language - that his "red car" had a "flat in the back right tire".  We waited till all the cops had left, went searching and found the card!  Now all we need is Kari and her camera to get released and we'll get to see documentation of hours of police harassment and illegal activities. 

OVERALL:
About 280 people were arrested that day and 130 of them were charged with felonies.  This is an absurdly high number of felonies - usually their will only be 10 or so felonies in a group that size.  If people like Jonathan, Kari and the producers of Democracy Now are being charged with felonies, it's not wonder the number is that high.  I think they are charging us with felonies to justify the excessive amount of riot cops, peppers-spraying and tear-gassing that was going on.  It might also be a tactic to get arrestees to plea bargain, and also to make it scarier to risk arrest in the future. 

I have to run to a "peace conference" now (remember?  we're here to work for peace!) but will write an update on jail solidarity soon.  Suffice to say, most of the arrestees have not been charged or released and many have been denied medical attention.  There are reports of one person who wasn't given water to wipe the pepper spray off here body and now has 1st degree burns and is still not getting medical attention.  The men are apparently on hunger strike for medical care as well as to demand that they are either charged or released.  Police harrassment, tear gassing and arrests have continued throughout yesterday (Tuesday).  I will give more details and and update soon.  Check back to www.washingtonpeacecenter.net.

HOW TO HELP:
If you want to help, Coldsnap Legal Collective is asking for people to call the jail and the mayor and demand that all arrestees receive proper treatment and access to medical services. Additionally, we demand that all protesters are immediately released and that all charges are dropped.

Ramsey County Jail -- 651.266.9350
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman -- 651.266.8510
Ramsey County Sheriff's office -- 651.487.5149