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Anarchist Protest At Republican Convention Gets Violent
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MINNEAPOLIS -- Police arrested protesters near the St. Paul convention site this afternoon and blocked off pedestrian and car traffic into the city center for at least an hour.
While the remains of a peaceful protest parade swirled around one closed road after another, growing increasingly frustrated that they weren't able to get back to their houses and cars, one officer told me that "anarchists" a few blocks away had been causing trouble -- throwing bricks and breaking people's property.
Another reporter confirmed there had been a violent demonstration comprised primarily of young, shirtless men with bandanas over their faces. The reporter had observed a neatly stacked pile of bricks and some broken glass.
By the time I was able to show my press badge to get past the line of armed guards, two protesters were face down on the street with their hands tied behind their back, and another two were sitting against a brick wall. About a dozen police officers, some in riot gear, waited with them until an ambulance arrived. Up and down the streets -- virtually deserted except for media -- groups of other uniformed officers, presumably on stand-by, waited to learn what was next.
The arrests and intense police response, reported as including bikes and horses, seemed yet another upset to the Republican convention. In addition to the impending hurricane on the Gulf Coast, the disrupted schedule of speakers, and the potential imbroglio of Palin's pregnant daughter, the trouble downtown does not add any good news for the Republicans. Judging by the muttering of the hundreds of people who were unable to get downtown this afternoon, it doesn't endear them to the locals either.
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lets not forget undercover cops assist in starting riots more often than they are given credit for.
This video is from a North American Union peaceful protest, where masked undercover cops were thwarted from amping up the violence at the protest. The undercover officers had bricks in hand and wanted to throw them but were stopped by the protest's organizer. The undercover cops retreat to the safety of the riot police and then are cerimoniously arrested. In another video, you can see the masked undercover cops and the arresting officers are all wearing the same riot boots with indentical yellow soles.
Other instances are availabale and an apology was offered...
video at:
http://www
Anarchist protesters!!????? So much for truthful journalism!
THEY ARRESTED AMY GOODMAN IN ST. PAUL - Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar were arrested by the Minneapolis Police Department. Charged with conspiracy to riot. YouTube footage under Amy goodman RNC
Bad move by the St. Paul Cops and the MN Govenor for not alerting them to keep their hands off.
It is clearly too early to trust any reports concerning the protests or other actions in Minneapolis. The reports of police "preemptive actions," are disturbing. However, if it turns out that some protested in masks, I have no respect for them. The mask is the disguise of a coward who will not own his actions and accept responsibility for his protests. If you protest anything do it proudly with your face to the world and make the authorities responsible.
Just as the mask is the disguise of hired thugs. Amy Goodman was not in a mask, and neither were her teammebers, all of whom had press security credentials to cover the RNC sessions yesterday.
As you wisely say, ... "It is clearly to early".
Very, very few were wearing masks, of the 40-50,000 peaceful protesters on hand. Many of those that were, were not . . . before tear gas and pepper spray was used on contiguous peaceful protesters by (some) police.
Too early?
The videos, audio tapes and stills, of which there are now multitudes (from many different sources) suggest that some (including the MSM) are unbelievably "late" in reporting the myriad civil rights and 1st Amendment violations.
Amy Goodman got arrested and is in jail right now
http://www
Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will. Mikhail Bakunin
Condensing this into a "one size fits all" aphorism may seem appropriate, but . . . wisdom suggests that "mass-enli
Other than that . . . blah, blah, blah . . . "work on yourself without concern (or judgment) for the works of others" . . . blah, blah, blah. Assume nothing except that you know nothing.
These so called anarchists are undercover cops. They did it in the 60s, they did in Seattle for the WTO protests in the 90s, they did it during Bush's 2000 inaugural.
The cops send in undercover cops to break windows and start fights trying to induce a crowd into rioting, so the police have an excuse to bust liberal protester heads on their batons. The press picks it up and it makes liberals, Democrats look like anarchists. It makes the Govenor look tough on Law and Order. The conservatives win, everyone else loses.
Every act of evil seems to be good for conservatives.
Conservatives have a long history or oppression. They're good at it. Not something to be proud of though.
Kelly, what's the deal with a Minneapolis byline for a story frpm St. Paul that you reported from St. Paul? ???
I was in the march today and saw some stuff downtown--where I live.. I'll post comments about it later.
But you need a map.
What amazes me is how much of the law enforcement community fails to understand the role that free speech and protest play in the democratic process. The whole concept of free speech, protest and democracy is that they serve as peaceful, non violent means to enact change in government. When these rights are suppressed, people become frustrated. When people are frustrated, they find alternative methods of expression, including violence.
Just this evening, I watched a program on Special Forces operations in Afghanistan where they covered the use of the "soft knock"; that is respectfully asking permission to search houses rather than busting doors down in the middle of the night to conduct searches.
I find it quite troubling that our forces abroad are using more discretion against possible armed enemies than our own domestic police use against non-violent protesters.
Non-violent protesters?!!? I just read a report of these "non-violent" protesters dropping bags of sand and concrete from bride overpasses onto buses heading to the convention center. That is attempted murder! I also read a report that a large mob terrorized a busload of cub scouts on their way to present the colors at the convention. You call that speech?
What a tolerant bunch you Democrats are...
Did you see the video of the bus the police seized, leaving its occupants along a major expressway without transportation?
Back off PSR! Prosecute the criminals, but don't come here and throw innuendo out that the protestors and demonstrators are criminals, unless you are a believer that the First Amendment has been suspended, and the Fourth Amendment declared passe'.
When democracy no longer is representative of the people, it is time to take to the streets.
These are anarchists. They have no intention of having "peaceful or non-violent" protests.
They live for causing trouble and damage.
You have the right to free speech and the right to esemble, but you do not have the right to break the law while doing it.
Amy Goodman was arrested today trying to free two of her reporters go to www.democr
They're "anarchist
That doesn't make any sense at all.
Just because the Police say they are anarchists does not make them so.
Who says they're anarchists?
the cops
I'd say the authorities put eveyone on edge this morning with all the Police State Tactics they employed, busting into people's homes on the suspicion that they MIGHT be planning to PROTEST, a right U.S. citizens still have. They stole computers, laptops, personal journals, and who knows what else. The residents of the homes were put down flat on the floor, handcuffed, and left that was for about an hour. The Riot Squads then handed them search warrants on the way out.
While I don't discredit this information about protesters getting violent and while I wish they hadn't but remained just civilly disobedient, I think HuffPo is missing out on the story of many thousands of other really non-violent protesters, including VEGANS for godssakes, being infiltrated by the FBI, having their pads illegally broken into when they did nothing wrong, and even forced off of buses on the way to protesting, again without provocation. I wish you would cover this as well. I believe Jane Hamsher of FDL and Glenn Greenwald are.
I wonder about those so-called "violent protestors", especially at anti-war protest march.
Could it be more of Rove's Operation Chaos stirring up trouble against the Dems like he did in
Florida by send a bus load of "protestors " to bang on the windows of Dade County BOE during
a recount?
One thing is for sure.If Rove is not in jail , then he is out causing trouble for the Democrats.
"Now we see the violence inherent in the system, now we see the violence inherent in the system, help help I'm being repressed.
Eric Idle Monty Python....
Actually, it was Michael Palin (no relation to Sarah Palin).
Wrong.
Where are the actual photos/videos of violence???
Sitting in a pile next to all the videos of rioting at WTO in Seattle years ago.
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