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An altercation pitting convention police and the Minnesota National Guard against the anarchist group Black Bloc has ended in a fusillade of tear gas and an unknown number of arrests. Black Bloc held a dance party at St. Paul College (Ireland and Kellogg) this morning; afterward they took to the street, proceeding down Kellogg Avenue. At one point, members of the group pulled a dumpster into the street and grabbed garbage from it to throw at a passing limousine. They then tipped over the dumpster in the middle of the street to make it impassable.
The group then turned on to St. Peter, throwing temporary road signs and barricades into the street as they went. When they encountered a row of parked police cars, some members of the crowd broke windows out of three police cars and a police SUV.
When the crowd reached St. Peter and 7th Street, they were greeted by 20 or so Minnesota National Guard members who fired numerous tear gas canisters into the group. I was part of a cluster of four people who ducked into an alcove when the tear gas started; a tear gas canister was subsequently fired directly at us.
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6 Comments »
Comment posted September 1, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
“I was part of a cluster of four people who ducked into an alcove when the tear gas started; a tear gas canister was subsequently fired directly at us.” – Pathetic mask wearing protester
happy to hear they didnt entirily miss you.
Comment posted September 1, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
Whose Streets? Well, now you have your answer.
Comment posted September 1, 2008 @ 7:54 pm
” pathetic mask wearing protester” or legitimate member of the press. It is good to have reporting from people willing to see firsthand what is going on to give us a account of how things occur.
Don't assume all that raise their voice are affiliated with those that do more then vocalize their objection.
Comment posted September 1, 2008 @ 10:57 pm
When nations engage in brutal, illegal international aggressions, invasions, occupations and large scale human rights abuses involving the deaths of hundreds of thousands such as the U.S. did in Vietnam and has again in Iraq, there will ALWAYS be people who are going to take it to the street. What is needed now is international support for those of in this country who have stood up to exert our so-called “constitutional rights” in this police state where habeus corpus has been effectively suspended and where police forces are commandeered by FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces, where police lie, illegal surveillance occurs, etc.
How many cities have now had some version of police repression? Remember the unprovoked police attacks on families and media in Los Angeles a couple years ago during a peaceful gathering in a park after a immigration rights march? Remember the 7/4/07 police provocation of protesters followed by the arrest of 17 and subsequent prosecutorial misconduct in Spokane? Remember Seattle at the WTO “Battle in Seattle” in 1999? Let's list some more incidents.
And were is the media? Of course they were drooling all over themselves in Beijing over the possibility of civil unrest in China during the Olympics. Now they have their unrest in St. Paul and where is the media? Answer: They are not paid to cover the truth on the streets of the U.S.
Comment posted September 5, 2008 @ 5:54 pm
to bad the minnesota guard didnt have or deploy tear gas…..it was the police
Comment posted September 14, 2008 @ 4:27 pm
There is an inaccuracy in your account. While Minnesota National Guard troops were indeed deployed at the request of the St. Paul Police Department, no Minnesota National Guard troops were armed, nor did Guardsmen have the capability to fire tear gas. — Minnesota National Guard Public Affairs
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