OK EVERYONE LISTEN UP I WAS THERE.
I WAS THERE: At the protest march on the RNC in Saint Paul, MN today 9-2-08: FULL REPORT
It all began with a concert on the Minnesota Capital lawn in Saint Paul. The concert began at 3pm and went until around 7pm. It hosted a fine line up
of anti-war music acts like Dead Presidents,
Michael Franti, Anti-Flag and more. As well as a
number of fine speakers including Iraq Veterans for Peace.
During the entire event the capital lawn which was the venue for this concert was surrounded by color coded teams of fully equipped riot police.
Snipers and spotters were at the tops of nearby buildings. Helicopters circled overhead.
This concert began around 3pm and went until about 6pm. During the afternoon rumor grew that Rage Against The Machine (Rage, or RATM), a rock group
who is an outspoken opponent of Bush administration policies, was going to play at the end of the days events.
The crowd at the state capital swelled to number over 5,000 in anticipation for Rage Against The Machine to play.
Rage Against The Machine began to do sound-check when a cadre of MN State Troopers mingled behind stage. The crowd booed and became restless chanting
"let them play, let them play" and "if you dont let them rage, we will"
It was during this time that I came shoulder to shoulder with a Provocateur. He came seemingly drunkenly stumbling into the tight crowd of people near
me and almost knocking over a number of people. But it was feigned drunkeness as he quickly straightened up and looked around sharply almost shocked
that his escapade did not incite some kind of negative reaction which he could use to start a fight and give the riot cops reason to swarm the crowd.
He looked around shocked that no one got mad.... he said: "I really am surrounded by a bunch of pussy hippies". He had on clean new creased black
pants and a clean new grey sweatshirt. He had a military haircut and brand new shoes. I knew he was a Police or Government Hired Provocateur!
These are the worst kind of Police in my opinion; the ones who start trouble. I would have confronted him, I wanted too, but he would have started
fighting me which was what he wanted and the riot cops would have swarmed the crowd and we would not have been able to march on the RNC and the Excel
Energy Center.
Crowd attention was drawn to the side of the stage as a flurry of activity erupted. It was Rage front man:
Zack de la Rocha. He came out with a loud speaker and told everyone to sit down. The entire
crowd near the man sat and listened and the first hush of the day came upon the crowd.
He told the crowd that the power for the stage had been cut-off because they (RATM) didnt have an event permit.
Threatened with arrest which would have prevented them from playing to a SOLD OUT crowd tomorrow night, Sept. 3rd, at the Target Center in Minneapolis
for a rally for Ron Paul.
They instead used vocals and fan interaction and sang two of Rage Against The Machines most inspiring songs over the microphone to the enthusiasm of
the energetic crowd.
At the end of a chorus of "Fu%$ You I wont do what you tell me" the massive crowd turned their sights on the excel center and surged forward.
The huge crowd which is being spun in MSM news to have been only 500 people when it truly must have been in the 4000-6000 person range. The streets
were packed building across street to other building for over 4 blocks of shoulder to shoulder protestors.
The march went into downtown Saint Paul… even led by police cars in an orderly fashion along the “designated” parade route. Spectators many of
whom were RNC delegates and RNC personnel watched from rooftop patios and hotel rooms as the marches chanted so loudly it echoed against the buildings
downtown. Chants commonly heard were “Whos streets? Our streets!” and “stop the war, help the poor!”
The march followed the parade route to the fenced-in dead-end 'pen' which was a block away from the rear of the Excel Energy Center Stadium where
the RNC is being held. The crowd mingled and became restless as darkness fell.
A funny moment I saw came when a riot cop fumbled his mace and dropped it and it rolled away from him to the sound of 1000 people laughing at his
fumble.
Rumor spread that if you wanted out, now was the time and sure enough it was apparent that the riot cops were putting their masks on.
The crowd moved out of the fenced in “pen” and back down towards the corner of St Peter and 7th where historic Mickey’s Diner is located. It was
here in the turn of the parade route that a police sergeant used his megaphone to tell everyone to clear the area and that is was an unlawful
assembly.
More police came out and formed a double line in a perfect phalanx of riot cops with bike cops behind and mobile horse cops on the move. The order to
disperse seemed only to encourage the crowd to disobey the police.
About half the marchers remained and after a tense standoff flashbang grenades were used along with tear gas and rubber bullets. The explosions and
smoke sent the huge crowd into a stampede. It is miracle that no one was trampled to death although it is possible that we have not yet heard of the
injuries from last night's protest. More news will come in the morning for sure.
At the time of the explosions of flashbangs I was about a block or two away heading to my ride. I heard the bangs and turned around to see smoke
filling downtown Saint Paul and masses of people running.
It was truly surreal.
About 10 minutes later as I was walking to my car I came upon a mini van of riot police just waiting with their side door open. One of them said to me
and a friend: “why don’t you throw some rocks or something, we’ve been here all day and haven’t got a chance to get in it" Then they all
chuckled.
It is this mentality which, in my opinion, borders on rampant criminality. The shear size of this 4-day army of enforcers required agencies from
across MN and the USA to recruit volunteers . VOLUNTEERS!? No I dont mean these are unpaid volunteers. I mean these are paid mercenaries who WANT to
put down protesters! So we get a bunch of trigger happy police who have come here just to get some action.
A short time ago Barack Obama held a rally at the very SAME venue: the Excel Center. It was there that he accepted his nomination for President by the
Democratic Party. That rally packed the arena and overflowed with 10,000s of supporters outside to watch on TV monitors.
During THAT rally there were only a handful of traffic cops to control pedestrian crossings and the thousands outside the arena were not there to
protest like tonight at the RNC, those thousands outside Obama's rally were n support of what was going on inside the Excel Center.
THE CONTRAST...
RNC and a Republican Focused event at the Excel Energy Center:
Thousands of riot cops, FBI, snipers, provocateurs, teargas, flashbangs, fences, and angry loud protesters.
A Democratic event at the Excel Center:
A handful of traffic cops required to manage the huge overflow crowd of supporters.
You see this is why we must have a Democrat in office. A people's candidate who doesn’t need to hide behind a mercenary army of trigger happy
stormtroopers.
The city of Saint Paul is a police state tonight.
I am on scene and I will report back the events of the 3rd and 4th as well.
Good night and good luck.
This is the most up to date source of live info from people on site in Minneapolis and Saint Paul which details police movements and protest info.
Twin Cities indymedia.org
Amazing footage from the 09/02/2008 protest of the RNC and of the teargassing, flashbanging and riotcops at the corner of St Peter and 7th by
Mickey's Diner.
[edit on (9/3/08) by AllSeeingI]
