Comments on: Rage in the streets: Concert-goers peaceful, 102 arrested

By: lisa

lisa — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:52:48 +0000

And we don't live in a police state?

By: Arrested

Arrested — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:32:31 +0000

I can fill you in on the “activity” you missed. The police continued to push us further down 7th street and eventually into standing traffic. Everyone walked on the road through the stopped vehicles and police on horses and bicycles forcibly corralled everyone onto the sidewalks. They pushed us down a few more blocks, then blocked the road after 7th street and 2nd ave. At this point, everyone was on the sidewalks.
The only people on the streets were at least 200 police – standing, on horses, and on bicycles. As several people crossed the intersection in the crosswalk, several cops attempted to arrest one man and he fought to break free. At least a dozen cops began firing into the crowd. Everyone took off running, and found themselves blocked off by a row of police on horses. They held us blocked in at the intersection for about 10-15 minutes. Most of the people there were trying to leave at that point. People were yelling “let us leave!” and “where are we supposed to go?!” as they tried to find a way through the police blockade. The police closed in and surrounded everyone on the corner.
An officer announced, “Everyone on the corner of 7th st and 2nd ave you are all under arrest.” We sat and waited with out hands on our heads for 20-30 minutes while more and more police and many vehicles arrived. They refused to tell us what we were being arrested for even as we were being cuffed. Everyone sat on the sidewalk for about 2 hours and waited to be booked in the several mobile booking stations that had been set up. While we waited many people attempted to ask the cops guarding us what we were being arrested for and what was going to happen to us. Every cop had different information; one even stated that we would all be jailed overnight. After booking we were loaded onto Metro Transit buses and brought to the jail. We were cited and released quickly. Most people were charged with Presence at Unlawful Assembly and Public Nuisance. However, many people were only charged with Presence at Unlawful Assembly. I was cited with both charges and my friend who was at my side the whole time only got the one charge.

By: Watching

Watching — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:36:40 +0000

Two male protesters were severely beaten without warning. One was hit so hard he jumped out of his shoes. The other was on his cell phone and turned too slowly to listen to an officer's order. He was beaten to the ground and then maced. One was released at dawn after the protest. No news from the other one yet. The cops tend to increase charges for the ones they hurt the most. Stay tuned.

By: raymond

raymond — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:56:17 +0000

good job man RATM kicks ass! thanks for protesting with them against the republicans. However i couldn't really tell if the protest had a reason other than something to do after a Rage show. If you guys were going to march make sure you have a purpose and a good one.

By: steveclemens

steveclemens — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:57:47 +0000

Andy,
Thank you for serving as a real journalist should. I've been so proud of the Free Media in direct contrast to the corporate shills who hide behind the police. Occasionally I've met some decent police this week but almost without exception it was only those in plain uniforms -not those in their up-armored ninja turtle costumes.
We must hold our Minneapolis City Council accountable for transferring authority to Homeland Security [sic]. The vote was 11-2 and only our stalwart defenders of human rights, Cam Gordon and Gary Schiff opposed this cowardly decision. Please thank them.

Steve Clemens

By: JB

JB — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:10:06 +0000

Andy, Great reporting and good photos. This article made the front page of Google News this morning.