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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Were the computers and papers returned?
I am still angry with the Dems for going along with the "Free Speech Zone" thing again. Presume the Repubs will have even smaller "zones" that are even farther away.
But no surprise in this conservative media environment, in Pawlenty's state. Horrific, Gestapo-like. Wow.
Thanks Glenn for posting this.
http://www.theuptake.org/
Sounds like part of the Republican utopia.
...and a shot across the bow.
"From small things, mama, big things one day come.."
Let the war begin.
This would not surprise me in Africa, or South America.
The ones in charge will always fight/cheat to stay there, and they can feel the pressure building.
They can see change coming, and they don't like it.
A dark chapter in America is coming to an end, rejoice.
E N O U G H !!!!!!!!
can say definitively that we've fully made the transition from fascism lite to fascism?
Not yet. Were there warrants? Who issued them? Start at the top, not the fools who carried the guns. Go after the people who authorized their use. Talk about a money bomb opportunity.
I hope the Howard Dean and the mainstream press gets on this. Wishful thinking, but it's time has come.
Talk about take the leash off the dog, do they have any idea how much this will motivate people?
I have a feeling the RNC message just got lost in the protests.
...to not watch one minute of the Repug convention coverage, which may not be possible because of Gustav. I appreciate when GG and others who have to watch can keep me informed about disgusting news like this.
here's the link.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/30/rnc.protest/index.html
It almost sounds like they are describing a different incident altogether. Maybe this isn't the same incident, but it's a raid on the same group, the RNC Welcoming Committee.
about the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department...
From a few minutes ago: http://tinyurl.com/5poa5p
"...Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher stated, “This investigation pertains to actions of the RNC Welcoming Committee. The “Welcoming Committee” is a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self- described anarchists..."
From earlier this week: http://tinyurl.com/686uzq
"...Two members of Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher's Special Investigations Unit flunked when they took money planted in an FBI integrity test, a jury decided Wednesday.... The two men, both 48, are friends of Fletcher. Naylon was best man at Fletcher's second wedding. Rehak is a former St. Paul police officer hired by Fletcher despite reprimands in Rehak's police personnel file. Fletcher declined to be interviewed Wednesday ..."
Guess a big fat police raid helps distract people from earlier new like that. Those folks who were raided had better make sure that nothing was stolen in the raids, though.
Can we see them?
Can we see the probable cause explanations used in order to get them?
It almost sounds like they are describing a different incident altogether. Maybe this isn't the same incident, but it's a raid on the same group, the RNC Welcoming Committee.
That is describing last night's raid of the organizing meeting. I wasn't there. I'm writing about this morning's raids at the houses.
Who issued the warrants?Can we see them?
Can we see the probable cause explanations used in order to get them?
They're refusing to make the warrants public.
Minneapolis is not in Ramsey county, and the convention is in St. Paul. Do they have all the facts right in what they're reporting? Rumor had it the St. Paul police were taking fewer precautions than they did in Denver. If they're going above and beyond, that is....interesting.
Glenn, I am so glad you Jane are there today.
The Twin Cities police illegal repression of peaceful non-violent citizens copies the pattern used as far back as the April, 2000 IMF/WB protests in DC.
1) Federal "law" enforcement show up before the protest with dark rumors of violence from "anarchists" (or later - "terrorists": the new "communists").
2) Local law enforcement are promised additional resources by the Feds to meet the scary threat -- effectively Federalizing local law enforcement. As Twin Cities Indymedia observes, FBI and Homeland Security were at some of the house raids.
3) Illegal mass detentions and -- often -- arrests precede the start of planned public protests.
4) Alleged fire code or other non-criminal violations are used to shut down the assembly spaces legally rented and occupied by those preparing to publicly assemble to peacefully demand redress of grievances.
In DC in 2000, the DC SWAT team just happened to be outside the convergence space we had rented (I co-coordiated the medical support for those protests) early on the weekend morning when DC Fire just happened to stop by to check out an alleged fire code violation.
The DC police surrounded and occupied the entire convergence space, arresting and detaining those inside. Protesters (save one) were not allowed into the building until the end of the protests, when the fire concerns magically vanished (no substantiative violation was ever proven, and the whole question was dropped after the protest.
The DC convergence space help puppet-making facilities (and puppets!), medical facilities and supplies, and the meal prep/service space that Food Not Bombs created. Protesters were denied access to virtually all thier supplies for the duration of the protests. They went to court to attempt to get the puppets freed (IIRC the Center For Civil Justice palyed and integral role along with the NLG)
5) Alleged code violations serve as a pretext not only for harassement and interdction of lawful Constitutionally protected activity but also for arguable illegal surviellance and intellignece gathering.
The Twin Cities Indymedia report that the local popos seized all laptops and hard drives from those illegally detained yesterday evening.
In DC in 2000, I was allowed back into the Convergence Center to retrieve a protester's insulin. Recall: the pretext for seizing the space was an urgent and severe fire code violation.
When I got in the building, what did I see?
Teams of Fire Department personnel? Huge fans to blow out volatile substances? Inspectors in HazMat suits?
Nope.
The convergence space was filled with people with guns on their belts, some in uniform, more in plain clothes. They were methodically photographing ever single surface (announcement boards, bulletin boards, schedules) and taking examples of every piece of printed literature in the space -- as well as searching all the personal belongings there.
For the 2000 DNC protests in LA, the only way we forestalled identical activity was to obtain a Federal Court injunction (if that's the right term of art) precluding such raids.
I'd assumed the organizers of the RNC protests this year had obtaied the same protection from one of the few remaining Federal judges with integrity.
Obviously, I was wrong.
6) Disruption of logistical support. The overnight raids on Food Not Bombs included seizure (as TC Indymedia report) of the supplies and equipment at the Food Not Bombs house. The same process has reportedly begun at the Seeds of Peace house (both groups provide mass kitchens for activists). This pattern has been seen at other mass demos since the Seattle WTO protests in 1999.
I fully expect raids on houses where medics and legal collectives supporting the RNC protest over this weekend (if they have not already begun)
----
"A Republic, if we can keep it"
Thanks to you and Jane for focusing public attention on the police state Federal "law" enforcement officials and the corporatists they serve seek to create here in America. I hope we can dismantle their work.
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