Raiding Democracy in St. Paul

MARJORIE COHN
COUNTERPUNCH
Tuesday, September 2, 2008

In the months leading up to the Republican National Convention, the FBI-led Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force actively recruited people to infiltrate vegan groups and other leftist organizations and report back about their activities. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a recruiting story called “Moles Wanted.” Law enforcement sought to preempt lawful protest against the policies of the Bush administration during the convention.

Since Friday, local police and sheriffs, working with the FBI, conducted preemptive searches, seizures and arrests. Glenn Greenwald described the targeting of protestors by “teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets.” Journalists were detained at gunpoint and lawyers representing detainees were handcuffed at the scene.

“I was personally present and saw officers with riot gear and assault rifles, pump action shotguns,” said Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, who is representing several of the protestors. “The neighbor of one of the houses had a gun pointed in her face when she walked out on her back porch to see what was going on. There were children in all of these houses, and children were held at gunpoint.”

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The raids targeted members of “Food Not Bombs,” an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group that provides free vegetarian meals every week in hundreds of cities all over the world. They served meals to rescue workers at the World Trade Center after 9/11 and to nearly 20 communities in the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina.

Also targeted were members of I-Witness Video, a media watchdog group that monitors the police to protect civil liberties. The group worked with the National Lawyers Guild to gain the dismissal of charges or acquittals of about 400 of the 1,800 who were arrested during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. Preemptive policing was used at that time as well. Police infiltrated protest groups in advance of the convention.

Nestor said that no violence or illegality has taken place to justify the arrests. “Seizing boxes of political literature shows the motive of these raids was political,” he said.

Further evidence the political nature of the police action was the boarding up of the Convergence Center, where protestors had gathered, for unspecified code violations. St. Paul City Council member David Thune said, “Normally we only board up buildings that are vacant and ramshackle.” Thune and fellow City Council member Elizabeth Glidden decried “actions that appear excessive and create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation for those who wish to exercise their first amendment rights.”

“So here we have a massive assault led by Federal Government law enforcement agencies on left-wing dissidents and protestors who have committed no acts of violence or illegality whatsoever, preceded by months-long espionage efforts to track what they do,” Greenwald wrote on Salon.

Preventive detention violates the Fourth Amendment, which requires that warrants be supported by probable cause. Protestors were charged with “conspiracy to commit riot,” a rarely-used statute that is so vague, it is probably unconstitutional. Nestor said it “basically criminalizes political advocacy.”

On Sunday, the National Lawyers Guild and Communities United Against Police Brutality filed an emergency motion requesting an injunction to prevent police from seizing video equipment and cellular phones used to document their conduct.

During Monday’s demonstration, law enforcement officers used pepper spray, rubber bullets, concussion grenades and excessive force. At least 284 people were arrested, including Amy Goodman, the prominent host of Democracy Now!, as well as the show’s producers, Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar. “St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an American city to be,” Greenwald wrote, “with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas cannisters, shouting military chants and marching in military formations.”

Bruce Nestor said the timing of the arrests was intended to stop protest activity, “to make people fearful of the protests, but also to discourage people from protesting,” he told Amy Goodman. Nevertheless, 10,000 people, many opposed to the Iraq war, turned out to demonstrate on Monday. A legal team from the National Lawyers Guild has been working diligently to protect the constitutional rights of protestors.

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7 Responses to “Raiding Democracy in St. Paul”

1. DamnTheWarGods Says:
   September 2nd, 2008 at 1:37 pm

   Yeah, and guess what. Our faithful media mentioned nothing about the pre-staged raids and showed the sheep of our society that the protestors were out of control. Of course mentioning that protestors assaulted the SWAT dressed Gestapo and showed images of protestors throwing garbage cans into plate glass windows!
   Nice that they have such a high sense of honor. Also, we get fed a large dose of Palins Pregnant Daughter, but nothing on Ron Paul’s event in St. Paul. Amazing

2. WakeUp Says:
   September 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 pm

   That’s right, DamnTheWarGods, and because the Internet is the only way to get the truth out to the masses, you can expect that it won’t be around in its present form much longer if it keeps dinging the armor of the mainstream media.

3. commentarybedamned Says:
   September 2nd, 2008 at 4:08 pm

   Here’s some democratic commentary for ya:

   http://illuminatimatrix.wordpr.....ons-house/

   They’re about to lose their own game.

4. Mark Says:
   September 2nd, 2008 at 6:18 pm

   Yes, it’s obvious the MSM is intentionally withholding certain points of views and spinning everything in a pro-government fashion. This is called propaganda. And the effectiveness of the propaganda that has been practiced upon the people of the U.S. over the last 60 years is beyond anything seen before. In essence, they have turned reality into a reality TV show. And the MSM are the producers. They script it all out for the people and then serve it up to them through the power of radio, television, newspaper, and all the other forms of media they control. The government and big business have merged to create a 21st century fascist nation that excels at command and control measures. These guys are good at what they do. But they failed to plan ahead for the information age that swept the world. The internet took off faster than they had anticipated. And once it got in the hands of the people, it took off in millions of different directions. If it wasn’t for the internet, most of us would still be blissfully ignorant of what is really going on in the world.

   But we still have the internet. Let’s use it as best we can to free the minds of our family, friends, and neighbors. The more people that hear our message, the harder it is going to be for the MSM to get away with their lies and manipulation. And eventually, all this will come to a head. Before it’s said and done, everyone will have been exposed to the truth. And everyone will have had to pick a side. There will be no middle ground. There will still be gray areas but they will pale in comparison to the black and white. At that point America will redefine itself for the 21st century. And hopefully it won’t be after we’ve destroyed ourselves and a good portion of the rest of the world. America stands at the brink and millions of Americans have no idea how close we are to losing everything our forefathers fought for. They’re just proud to be Americans, whatever that should mean. They would have been proud to be Soviets, too. That’s how most people are. They’re just happy to be alive, wherever they may be.

   So Ron Paul is having a convention trying to get Americans to talk about real issues. Where the constitution is taken seriously. Where the rights of the people come before the rights of the State. The nerve of this guy. He’s trying to draw attention to important things that are going on in the world. Absolutely the last thing the MSM wants to cover.

   Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. The internet has pulled aside the curtain and has allowed all of us to see the man working the machine. It’s time to say “Sic ‘em Toto!”

5. Elliott Says:
   September 2nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm

   The so-called “police” cavorting and carrying on in Minnesota are nothing but embodied devils, Nephilim filth, reptiloids.

6. jonny Says:
   September 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm

   9/11 never happened tv watchers were put into a hypnotic trance made to think 9/11 happened its not even the year 2000 yet 2012 is realy the year 2000 y2k hasent happened yet strange how the American zombies have been manipulated

7. BeTrueSeekTruth Says:
   September 3rd, 2008 at 4:39 am

   Those bad bad vegans. They want to serve healthy food, they are terrorists! Let’s just face it. If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck… The so called police, act like criminals, and think like criminals. They allow themselves to be deluded by the criminals who have infiltrated key positions in their organization. The police are therefore the criminals. I would feel deep shame if I were a part of this atrocity. How about the police growing a pair and policing these criminal elements out of their midst and over to the inside of the bars where they belong?
   Or are these police just over stuffed cowards quaking in their turtle suits at their criminal bosses?