National Lawyers Guild: What police seized was not ‘weaponized’ urine

The National Lawyers Guild has released a statement about the items seized in police raids on Saturday targeting the homes of anti-RNC protesters. Of particular note: buckets of urine that Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said were going to be used against police.

Two buckets contain grey water and were being used to flush toilets, to conserve water, in the upstairs bathroom. Both were identified in the inventory as “unidentified liquid.” The third bucket, as shown by inventory sheets, was seized from illegal apartment over a garage in the rear. This apartment has been occupied for several years by a person unconnected to the house occupants or the RNC. No bathroom was in the illegal apartment and urine was collected in a bucket. This was listed as “unidentified yellow liquid” in the inventory sheets.

Bruce Nestor, chapter president of the Minnesota National Lawyers Guild, further explained the grey water and urine buckets for the Minnesota Independent.

“Sheriff Fletcher does not have three buckets of urine. There are two buckets of gray water in the bathroom that were collected from a downstairs sink. It’s part of a permaculture program to minimize impact on the environment. They disconnected the sink drainage from the sewer system and use it for toilet water, to use less water when they flush.

The other bucket was collected from an illegal garage apartment. The guy had been living there for years, and did not have a working toilet.

Yes, he peed in a bucket. But he did not have anything to do with the RNC. He has nothing to do with the people living in the house. He has nothing to do with protests. It was seized from an apartment that has absolutely nothing to do with the people in the home or any plan to protest the RNC.”

The Guild also took issue with the sheriff’s office characterization of other items taken.

“Police seized political literature, cellphones, computers, cameras, personal diaries, and many common household items such as paint, rope, and roofing nails. These items are present in almost any home in south Minneapolis and are not evidence of a crime,” said Nestor in a press statement Saturday evening. “Seizing boxes of political literature shows the motive of these raids was political. Sheriff Fletcher has staged a publicity stunt, violated constitutional rights, and misrepresented what was seized during the raids,” he said.

The Guild also said it will be aggressively defending the six activists being held by Ramsey County.

“Conspiracy to commit riot was the charge used against the Chicago 8 after the police riots in Chicago
during the 1968 Democratic Convention,” said Heidi Boghosian, executive director the National Lawyers Guild. “Guild attorneys defended those charged in 1968 and we will do so again now.”

MnIndy’s Molly Priesmeyer contributed to this report.