250 protesters arrested before McCain speech

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - Police arrested 250 anti-war protesters on Thursday shortly before John McCain accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention a short distance away.

The peaceful protest, dubbed "No Peace for the Warmakers," drew nearly 1,000 people who had planned to march to the downtown convention hall where the Republicans met.

Marchers chanted "Who is the terrorist? McCain is the terrorist" as they tried to cross several bridges that span Interstate 94 into downtown St. Paul, but were blocked by police.

<snip>

Officers used flash grenades and teargas after two hours to herd them onto a bridge one mile from the convention hall.

<snip>

The 250 arrests followed 420 at several protests earlier in the week. Several journalists were among those arrested.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0446401720080905?sp=true

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you really need to read the entire article

[azurnoir]

1. The police did more than that

They chased the protesters well out of the downtown area into another business district and then pepper sprayed and harassed shoppers at a Sears store, the events are described in this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3471787

a bit over zealous does not even begin to describe the events and actions of the police over the past week. It is a sad time to live in St Paul and to say that I am disgusted by the actions of law enforcement not to mention the utter complicity of other local government officials in these matters, whom BTW 2 weeks ago said they would not be resorting to the very things they did before the RNC even began is an understatement.

I will not miss the constant noise of military helicopters Apache and a few Blackhawk with visible guns trained on the ground below circling over head.

[Truth4Justice]

3. Ho-hum. What were you expecting? Amerika is a Police State now. It'll get much worse soon too.

[azurnoir]

6. The point on the police

was that they knowingly lied to the public, probably for the shock value later on, the raids last weekend and the events at the convention were obviously planned well in advance.
As to the actions of police last night, they are I suspect about to get a lesson in first amendment rights.
As to hohum are you from Baghdad? And it will get worse, only if NcCain wins, BTW this shit did not happen even on 9/12/01

[Truth4Justice]

7. Dont live in Bagdad but I know how militarized the police are. Obama wont stop that at all, IMO.

[azurnoir]

8. The helicopters were National Guard

there is a base just south of down town St Paul, we see the choppers when they are moving troops but not with their gun ports open and there were Coast Guard gun boats on the Mississippi River. none of this is "business as usual" at least here. Police state yes but hopefully things will return to normal now that the pukes are gone, "clemency" with those folks only goes so far.

As a home owner in St Paul have to wonder how much this BS is going to cost us in the long run, my house hold has had some serious discussion about selling our house in the last few days, we were considering anyways, but this.......

[Truth4Justice]

10. By militarized, I meant all the helmets, machine-guns, SWAT teams, ect. I hope I never see an armor

-ed military helicopter owned by the police but it wouldn't surprise me now. The founders warned us about the dangers of allowing a standing army, which is what all this really adds up to when you have a joint operation like this going on. I wish it were an anomoly but it just keeps getting worse each year.

[azurnoir]

11. Sorry I was not clear about the choppers

not being police but military.
On I guess the plus side life is returning to surface normal around these parts but the stain placed on my city by the actions of "law enforcement" will not go away and now I am told the RNC took out insurance on behalf of the city to cover damages that they apparently knew would be accrued, even more disgusting, the cops were knowing tools of the RNC, whyb am I even surprised.

[kayell]

2. "unlawful assembly"

Isn't there something in the Constitution about that? Gosh, I think there is*.

"At some point even a journalist has to recognize that they are in violation of the law and they have to make a decision -- are they going to get arrested or are they going to cover it from a distance?" St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said at the scene.

Walsh said most would be cited for unlawful assembly and released. One person was found with a semiautomatic pistol, for which he had a permit, and others were found with bags of feces, he said."

Sounds like there might have been a few planted disruptors in that crowd. Such as damn old tactic. Well used by Nixon and Hoover.

*Yeah, it's one of my favorites too. And apparently the founding fathers liked it well enough to make it number 1.

The First Amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

But of course, the pukes and their minions all know that the Constitution is just a piece of paper.

[Bozita]

4. Wondering about the "bags of feces" --- Any of those folks have a dog with them?

[Enthusiast]

5. That is the most likely explanation. nt

[Odin2005]

9. "Unlawful Assembly?" WTF happened to "Freedom of Assembly'?

All these laws "regulating" demonstrations are unconstitutional, they need to be struck down. If you have a constitutional right to assemble you should not have to get a permit.