Sep 1, 2008 11:47 pm US/Central Hundreds Arrested During Protest March
National Guard Troops Called In To Help
-
- Crews were working to cover broken windows with boards after protestors smashed them outside the Republican National Convention.
CBS
-
- Police arrested a number of people around 4:30 p.m. near Seventh and Robert Street in St. Paul on Sept. 1, 2008.
CBS
-
- A medic offers some assistance to a woman after she was hit with pepper spray.
CBS
-
- Bystanders with Democracy Now claimed journalists from their team were among those arrested.
CBS
-
- Police officers near 7th and Minnesota in St. Paul prepared for a group of protesters that split off the authorized protest route.
-
- Groups of officers were ready if things began to get out of hand.
CBS
Metro Transit Service Into Downtown St. Paul Resumed
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ― Protesters attacked delegates, smashed windows, punctured car tires and threw bottles Monday, a violent counterpoint to an otherwise peaceful anti-war march at the Republican National Convention. Police wielding pepper spray arrested at least 284 people.The trouble happened not far from the Xcel Energy Center convention site, and many of those involved in the more violent protest were clad in black and identified themselves to reporters as anarchists. They wrought havoc by damaging property and setting at least one fire. Most of the trouble was in pockets of a neighborhood near downtown, several blocks from where the convention was taking place.
But the main antiwar march was peaceful, police said, estimating about 10,000 people participated. Late Monday afternoon, long after the antiwar marchers had dispersed, police requested and got 150 Minnesota National Guard soldiers to help control splinter groups near downtown.
Members of the Connecticut delegation said they were attacked by protesters when they got off their bus near the Xcel Center, KMSP-TV reported. Delegate Rob Simmons told the station that a group of protesters came toward his delegation and tried to rip the credentials off their necks and sprayed them with a toxic substance that burned their eyes and stained their clothes.
One 80-year-old member of the delegation had to be treated for injuries, and several other delegates had to rinse their eyes and clothing, the station reported.
Of the arrestees, 130 faced possible felony charges, authorities said.
At least four journalists were among those detained, including Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke and Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, a nationally syndicated public radio and TV news program. Goodman was intervening on behalf of two producers for her program, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, when she was arrested, said Mike Burke, another producer.
Phil Carruthers, director of the prosecution division of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, said late Monday night that Rourke was being released and no charges were anticipated unless something very unusual turned up upon further investigation. Police had been holding Rourke on a gross misdemeanor riot charge, said Tom Walsh, a St. Paul police spokesman.
Goodman was arrested on a misdemeanor charge, Ramsey County sheriff's spokeswoman Holli Drinkwine said. Neither Walsh nor Drinkwine had information on the other two journalists.
The anti-war march was organized by a group called the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, whose leaders said they hoped for a peaceful, family-friendly event. But police were on high alert after months of preparations by a self-described anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee, which wasn't among the organizers of the march.
"Unfortunately today, a very small handful of individuals decided to break the law, damage property, and put people's safety at risk," Mayor Chris Coleman said.
About 180 protesters who weren't part of the march caused trouble, St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington said.
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said she expected her office to consider charges, including possible felonies, on Tuesday against those arrested. She said she couldn't speculate on how long they would be held before having a chance to post bail.
Protesters, many who were dressed all in black and covered their faces with bandanas or gas masks, broke windows, tipped over newspaper boxes, pulled trash bins into the street, threw bottles, bent rearview mirrors on a bus, flattened tires, and attempted to block intersections by joining hands.
Some protesters were seen lying on an interstate exit ramp to block traffic in downtown St. Paul and linking arms to block other roads.
At one point, people pushed a trash bin filled with trash and threw garbage in the streets and at cars. They also took down orange detour road signs. One of them used a screwdriver to puncture the back tire of a limousine waiting at an intersection and threw a wooden board at the vehicle, denting its side. Another hurled a glass bottle at a charter bus that had stopped at an intersection. The bottle smashed into pieces but didn't appear to damage the bus.
After the official march ended, police spent hours dispersing smaller groups of protesters, employing officers on horses, smoke bombs and pepper spray.
Protesters put eye drops in each other's eyes after police used chemical irritants such as pepper spray and tear gas. Some wore bandanas and masks to protect themselves.
Terry Butts, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice who is a convention delegate, was on a bus taking delegates to the arena when a brick through the window sprayed glass on him and two others. Butts said he wasn't hurt.
"It just left us a little shaken," he said. "It was sort of a frightening moment because it could have been a bomb or a Molotov cocktail."
Organizers of the antiwar march had hoped 50,000 people would turn out for the march. One of the largest rallies in the Twin Cities in recent history was a 2006 immigration rights protest in Minneapolis that drew about 35,000.
Sep 1, 2008 11:42 pm US/Central
-
- Officers on horseback were either stationed at certain posts or marching in groups to needed areas.
CBS
AP Photographer, Democracy Now! Host Arrested
ST. PAUL (AP) ― Associated Press photographer Matt Rourke and Democracy Now! TV and radio show host Amy Goodman were among those arrested Monday at an anti-war march coinciding with the first day of the Republican National Convention.Rourke was swept up as police moved in on a group of protesters in downtown St. Paul, the scene of scattered violence and vandalism by protesters, some of whom described themselves as anarchists.
Goodman was arrested as she tried to prevent two colleagues from being arrested, a producer for her show said.
David Ake, an AP assistant chief of bureau in Washington, said he was concerned by the arrest of Rourke, a Philadelphia-based photographer.
"Covering news is a constitutionally protected activity, and covering a riot is part of that coverage," Ake said. "Photographers should not be detained for covering breaking news."
Phil Carruthers, director of the prosecution division of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, said late Monday night that Rourke was being released and no charges were anticipated unless something very unusual turned up upon further investigation. Rourke was released early Tuesday.
Police had been holding Rourke on a gross misdemeanor riot charge, said Tom Walsh, a St. Paul police spokesman.
Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties, Democracy Now! said in a statement. Ramsey County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Holli Drinkwine said Goodman was arrested on a misdemeanor but she didn't know the charge. She did not immediately have any information about the other three.
Police said late Monday they had arrested 284 people as of 11 p.m.. Most of the estimated 10,000 people in the march were peaceful, but small groups totaling about 200 broke windows, taunted police, slashed tires and harassed delegates.
Rourke took photos throughout the day showing police shooting tear gas at protesters. Evan Vucci, another AP photographer, was with Rourke but did not see him get arrested.
"The police had pushed the protesters into a parking lot where they had police coming from all sides to encircle one area," Vucci said. "Once they got all the protesters into this one parking lot they kind of rushed and arrested all the protesters in there."
Vucci said he was picked up from behind, thrown down, and kicked in the ribs by police before being handcuffed. He said he avoided being arrested after showing an officer his press credentials.
"I don't think the police officers were targeting journalists," Vucci said. "The group they were going after was a pretty aggressive group, and I think they'd had enough of them. ... I think the cops were amped up."
A video of Goodman's arrest posted on YouTube shows her begging police not to arrest her before being taken away in handcuffs.
Democracy Now! said they were told by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting. Elizabeth Press, also with Democracy Now!, was among independent reporters staying in a house who were detained and released by police during a raid on Saturday.
Democracy Now! said the arrests were a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of those arrested. The syndicated show airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the world, it said in its release.
Sep 1, 2008 11:05 pm US/Central Reality Check: Rescheduling Political Conventions
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ― It's not exactly a secret, but Democrats and Republicans don't often talk about it. National conventions are little more than weeklong parties and a free infomercial. The candidates don't even have to be there.
ReportingIN FACT...
It was 101 years after America's first party convention the first presidential candidate even showed up. Franklin Roosevelt went to Chicago in 1932 to dispel rumors about his health. His dramatic and emotional appeal for a 'New Deal' in America clinched Roosevelt's nomination and set a precedent for future candidates.
But that's NOT THE WHOLE STORY.
The truth is there are only a few items of business that must legally get done, and that doesn't take a lot of time. It includes gathering a quorum of delegates -- enough to adopt rules and a party platform.
And of course, voting for vice president and president.
Nevertheless, the REALITY is this: preemptively scrapping convention business is extremely rare, even unprecedented.
Not widespread rioting in 1968, not World War II or even the Civil War stopped the national conventions.
It's a strong indication that John McCain is determined to avoid getting linked to bungling by President Bush after Hurricane Katrina
That's Reality Check.
No comments:
Post a Comment