In recent weeks supporters of the so-called RNC Eight, accused of conspiring to violently disrupt September’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, have ratcheted up their campaign to have criminal charges against the activists dismissed. The Duluth Central Labor Body, with 17,000 members, passed a resolution condemning the prosecutions. A petition signed by roughly 3,000 people was delivered to Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner’s office by serenading protesters. And one of the RNC Eight defendants made an appearance on MSNBC earlier this week.

The high-profile nature of the prosecutions, coupled with Gaertner’s ongoing campaign for governor, means that today’s decision to drop the most inflammatory terrorism charges against the defendants was certain to be viewed through a political prism.

“It’s becoming a real national issue of controversy that obviously is embarrassing for somebody who’s running for governor,” says Jordan Kushner, an attorney for one of the defendants. “I don’t think she’s going to get out of it just by dropping those charges, as far as the political implications go.”

Bruce Nestor, another of the defense attorneys, is slightly less cynical in assessing Gaertner’s motivations.

“I think this is a political case,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be about her own personal ambitions. … If this had proceeded as a typical anonymous prosecution, our clients would still be facing terrorism charges.”

Gaertner disputes that her political ambitions — or any factors beyond the merits of the case — played a role in her office’s deliberations.

“This case, like many the county attorney deals with, is a no-win situation politically,” she says. “In this case, as in so many, some people will think I’m too harsh; some people will think I’m too soft. I have to put aside the background noise and make decisions based on how I can achieve justice and public safety. That’s what this decision was based on.”

The news that the terrorism charges would be dropped, first reported this morning by Minnesota Independent, is being cheered by the group’s supporters. But the defendants — Erik Oseland, Eryn Trimmer, Garrett Fitzgerald, Luce Guillen-Givens, Max Specktor, Monica Bicking, Rob Czernick and Nathanael Secor — still face felony counts of conspiracy to riot and damage property, punishable by up to five years in prison. Nothing in the criminal complaints, which detail a purported criminal conspiracy to sow chaos at the Republican National Convention, has changed. The next hearings in the cases are slated to take place in May.

According to Gaertner, the dropping of terrorism charges was a routine decision the likes of which her office makes on a daily basis. “We amend complaints as a part of trial strategy frequently,” she says. “As you get ready for trial, you get a better sense of what you think the core is of your case, what you think the jury is going to respond to and you proceed accordingly. That’s exactly what happened here.”

Gaertner further insists that the decision is not an acknowledgment that the prosecution lacked sufficient evidence to secure convictions.

“We cannot proceed on a case unless we believe as prosecutors that we have sufficient evidence to convict the defendants as charged beyond a reasonable doubt,” she says. “That’s true in every case; that’s true in this case. The terrorism charge enhancement wasn’t dropped for evidentiary reasons. It was dropped for trial strategy reasons.”

But defense attorneys for the RNC Eight say it’s an admission that the prosecution didn’t have a credible case. “The reality is that they recognized that it was a charge that couldn’t be sold to a jury, and it hadn’t been sold to the public,” says Nestor. “While we welcome it, it doesn’t change what’s wrong at the core of the investigation and the prosecution, which is that the investigation and the public statements about it to date have proceeded as if these eight organizers are terrorists.”

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher, whose office played a central role in the criminal investigations that lead to the RNC Eight prosecutions, is supportive of the county attorney’s decision. “This will eliminate one element of the crimes that needs to be proved at trial and will make it easier to convict the defendants on the charges of riot and criminal damage to property,” he says. “The terrorism charge would have been a distraction at trial and further confused the journey.”

The RNC Eight were thought to be the first defendants indicted under what’s been billed as the Minnesota version of the federal PATRIOT act, which provides for enhanced penalties in terrorism cases. Gaertner says her office was simply following the law in bringing the prosecutions.

“This law, as written, was passed in the post-9/11 atmosphere of fear,” she says. “I don’t know what the Legislature intended when they wrote the law the way they did. But if they didn’t intend it for cases like this, they should amend it.”

The RNC Eight, accused of a criminal conspiracy to wreak chaos during the Republican National Convention, are unlikely to go on trial for at least another six months. But the battle to shape public opinion on the high-profile case has been taking place since the moment of their arrests on the eve of the St. Paul convention in early September.

At a hearing Tuesday afternoon before Ramsey County District Court Judge Teresa Warner, attorneys for the prosecution and defense traded charges over which side had stepped over the line in attempting to manipulate media coverage. Previously Judge Salvador Rosas, who is no longer hearing the case, had warned both sides to be cautious in their public relations machinations.

The prosecution is now seeking an order barring the defense from leaking nonpublic evidence to the media. As evidence of the need for such a prohibition, Assistant County Attorney Heidi Westby cited a Star Tribune article from Dec. 1 based on the review of 1,000 pages of documents provided by a source. The reports detailed the infiltration of the RNC Welcoming Committee by undercover deputies from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office.

Westby stated that attorneys for the eight defendants were the only ones with access to the documents. She further argued that the evidence includes private individual information, such as juvenile arrest records and financial data.

“They had not been disclosed to anyone else,” she said of the evidence. “This case should not be tried in the press.”

But attorneys for the two defendants in court today — Max Specktor and Monica Bicking — countered that Ramsey County officials are the ones guilty of trying to game the legal process through media manipulation. They noted that Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and County Attorney Susan Gaertner have held press conferences and released evidence unavailable to defense attorneys.

Attorney Larry Leventhal, who represents Specktor, accused the prosecution of seeking to control media coverage by muzzling the defense. “I think she’s being exceedingly disingenuous,” Leventhal said of Westby. “They are attempting to monopolize the conversation.”

Attorney Bruce Nestor, who represents Bicking, said that the prosecution has consistently utilized evidence unavailable to the defense — including ballistics tests and lab reports — to tar their clients in the media. “For months my clients have been attacked in the press,” he said. “There was a purpose to that, and it’s to prejudice my clients to the public.”

Judge Warner did not rule on the matter. Similar preliminary hearings will be held for the remaining defendants — Erik Oseland, Eryn Trimmer, Garrett Fitzgerald, Luce Guillen-Givens, Nathanael Secor and Rob Czernik — over the next week. The cases are currently expected to go to trial in September. Only about 15 percent of the more than 700 people arrested during the RNC have been charged with crimes.

At the close of Tuesday’s hearing, Warner counseled both sides not to engage in behavior that will taint the case. “I won’t tolerate any games being played, any shenanigans,” she said. “We’ll try this case in the courtroom on the evidence that’s presented.”

(Photo courtesy of Friends of the RNC 8)

An additional 20 cases stemming from the mass arrest on the final day of the gathering are still being investigated.

“There was a lot of confusion for a lot of people that night,” said City Attorney John Choi in announcing the decision.

“Ultimately this decision reflects specifically our prosecution standard: Can we prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial? We’ve come to the conclusion that, for the cases involved the Marion Street bridge and the Cedar Street bridge, that would not be the case.”

However, Choi defended the St. Paul Police Department’s decision to arrest nearly 400 people on Sept. 4.

“There was probable cause to arrest, but there wasn’t probable cause to prosecute,” he said. “Those standards are very very different. It is our obligation not to proceed on cases where we believe that we would not succeed at trial.”

Local civil rights activists said the failure to press charges is just the latest evidence that many of the arrests during the RNC were frivolous.

“The reality is that those arrests should never have been made,” said Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.

“Much of the alleged disorder is directly attributable to the police presence and police overreaction.”

“They should never have arrested them in the first place,” added Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “I believe that they were arbitrary and capricious arrests.”

The city attorney’s office has now processed roughly 90 percent of the 672 potential misdemeanor cases stemming from RNC activities. Of those cases, 52 have resulted in guilty pleas or fines. An equal number of cases are currently pending in the court system. However, the overwhelming majority of arrests — 490 — have either not resulted in charges or the cases have been dismissed by the courts.

So far no civil litigation has been brought against the city for police actions during the four-day gathering. Anti-war protester Mick Kelly has sent the city a letter stating his intent to sue for alleged civil rights violations, but has yet to file a case.

The city has a $10 million insurance policy, paid for by the Minneapolis St. Paul 2008 Host Committee, to cover litigation costs. However, numerous lawsuits are expected in the coming months.

“We’ve got a bunch of cases we’re looking at,” said Samuelson.

“Attorneys have been engaged in active information gathering in consideration of civil litigation related to the pattern of mass arrests and excessive use of police force,” Nestor confirmed. “I would think that planning can now go forward.”

In the days leading up to the Republican National Convention, a series of police raids led by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the arrest of eight people for allegedly conspiring to disrupt the political gathering. On Wednesday the individuals were each charged with a single count of “conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism.” The criminal complaint details a far-ranging plot by members of the RNC Welcoming Committee that included plans to kidnap delegates, attack cops with urine and molotov cocktails and ultimately bring the convention to a halt.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. A ninth individual was also arrested earlier this week and is named in the criminal complaint, but has not yet been charged. All but the latter suspect have been released on $75,000 bail.

Yesterday afternoon attorneys for the alleged co-conspirators held a press conference to rebut the charges. They portrayed the allegations as a trumped-up plot hyped by confidential informants who had a financial incentive to exaggerate the potential violence. “The most outrageous allegations made by the authorities are not supported by any evidence other than the statement of the confidential informants,” said attorney Bruce Nestor. “They’re not supported by the evidence seized.”

In one instance, for example, officers seized what was purportedly a police shield and cited it as evidence of the group’s ill intents. “We have the Sheriff displaying a single plastic item that he claims was a shield, as if one shield was going to protect demonstrators from 3500 armed riot police who have projectile-tear-gas weapons,” said Nestor.

The trio of lawyers also charged that police are utilizing terrorism fears to circumvent First Amendment rights. “All they do is they label people as terrorists and anarchists, and at that point what people are actually saying and the content of their views has no meaning anymore,” said attorney Jordan Kushner. “What they do is they dehumanize people, they stigmatize them and in the process cut off what they’re saying.”

Kushner compared the case to the treatment of the Chicago Seven in 1968 — all of whom were ultimately acquitted of conspiracy charges. “Of course that made complete fools out of the government,” he said. “When the evidence comes out in this case it’s going to be the same thing. It’s going to be about politically opportunistic, abusive, cynical people in power who are abusing the law to suppress political dissent and suppress political organizing.”

Three of the defendants — Luce Guillen-Givins, Robert Joseph Czernik and Max Jacob Specktor — were present at the press conference but did not answer questions from reporters. However, two of the defendants’ parents did comment on the charges.

Mordecai Specktor, father of Max (pictured together) and editor of the American Jewish World newspaper, stated that his son was held in solitary confinement for two days before being released on bail. “The criminal complaint here is farfetched, overblown, outrageous,” he said. “I encourage all the journalists here to look into the specifics of this complaint and see where the truth really lies.” Specktor then put his arm around his son. “This is your domestic terrorist,” he said. “Take a good look. I don’t believe it at all. Give me a break.”

The other defendants are Nathanael David Secor, Erik Charles Oseland, Monica Rachel Bicking and Garrett Scott Fitzgerald.

Ramsey County can hold the arrestees for 36 hours on probable cause, a timeline in place often used to gather evidence before formal charges are filed. However, weekends and holidays are not included in the 36-hour hold, which means all six of the activists arrested for “probable cause” could be held until Wednesday afternoon.

Bruce Nestor of the NLG told MnIndy that the timing of the arrests, and the subsequent holds without judicial review, were intended simply to halt protest activity. He says Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher has been conducting an investigation of the members of the RNC Welcoming Committee, an activist group planning protests at the RNC, for some time. If there was any evidence of conspiracy to start a riot, as Fletcher alleges, then they need to produce it, Nestor says.

“If they have evidence of a criminal act, then they should charge them,” he says. “And if they can charge [my client, Monica Bicking] with a complaint, then we will go defend that in court. But right now they are just holding them. You can’t just hold [Bicking] to prevent her from exercising her free speech.”

Fletcher has already issued a press release calling the arrestees “criminal anarchists” (see press release below), though no formal charges against the six detainees have been issued. Nestor says Fletcher’s office is using the language as intimidation and a smear campaign against those exercising their right to protest.

Below is the press release from the NLG. Below that is the press release issued yesterday from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department regarding the raids.

PRESS RELEASE – PRESS RELEASE

National Lawyers Guild Seeks Judicial Review of Preventative Detentions Ordered by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher

August 31, 2008 – The Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is seeking prompt judicial review of the preventative detentions of six citizen activists ordered by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.

Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Nathanael Secor, are all currently being held on “probable cause holds” in the Ramsey County Jail after being transferred late last night from the Hennepin County Jail. In Minnesota, a probable cause hold can be ordered by a police officer without a prosecutor or a judge reviewing a criminal complaint. Due to the arrest occurring on a weekend holiday, all six citizens can be held until Wednesday, September 3, 2008, without the filing of a formal charge.

Three of the arrestees are life-long residents of Minnesota. Two previously worked in early childhood education and passed background checks to obtain that employment. All have extensive ties to Minnesota, including employment and family members. One is a graduate of the University of Minnesota. None of the six arrestees have ever been convicted of a felony or crime of violence. One person arrested on Saturday morning, August 30th, was previously detained on Friday night at the St. Paul convergence center where he was photographed and identified. Despite being labeled a “key member” of a “criminal enterprise” and a planner of a “criminal conspiracy,” he was released on Friday night even though Sheriff Fletcher had conducted a months long investigation, using informants, and presumably identified the “key leaders” who he claims were organizing riots and civil disorder.

All six arrestees appear to face maximum charges of a gross misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine of $3,000. Absent death or use of a firearm, a criminal charge of “Riot” in Minnesota is a gross misdemeanor. Minn. Stat. §609.71. A charge of “civil disorder” is a gross misdemeanor and requires proof that a person made or instructed another to use a firearm, explosive, or incendiary device to cause civil unrest. Minn. Stat. §609.669. Property damage in Minnesota under $1,000.00 is also a gross misdemeanor. Minn. Stat. §609.595.

Despite the incendiary and alarmist language used by Sheriff Fletcher, there is no evidence that the common household items and tools seized in the pre-emptive house raids were intended to be used to cause death or civil unrest. No judge or prosecutor has reviewed the allegations made by Sheriff Fletcher.

In light of the fact that none of the arrestees appear to face felony charges, their extensive ties to Minnesota, and their lack of any serious prior criminal record, attorneys for the National Lawyers Guild are seeking to have a Ramsey County judge review the detentions on Sunday, August 31, 2008. This would be an informal review at which a judge could dismiss the charges or set conditions of release. Media updates will be provided if such a review is held.

From Ramsey County:
________________________________________________________________________________
CRIMINAL ANARCHISTS ARRESTED AND EQUIPMENT SEIZED DURING SEARCH WARRANTS THROUGHOUT MINNEAPOLIS AND ST. PAUL ________________________________________________________________________________

On August 30, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, supported by the Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, executed search warrants at the following addresses:
2301 23rd Ave South, Minneapolis, MN
3500 Harriet Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
3240 17th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN

These search warrants were a part of an ongoing investigation regarding serious criminal acts involving key members of the RNC Welcoming Committee.

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 anarchists who are intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention. These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers. They have recruited assistance in their criminal conspiracy from other anarchists groups throughout the country. Through their plans and actions they have exhibited a blatant disregard for the law and the safety of others.”

During the searches a number of items were recovered, some of which included:

Materials used in creating “sleeping dragons” (pvc pipe, chicken wire, duct tape)
Large amounts of urine (including 3 – 5 gallon buckets of urine)
Wrist Rockets
Assorted edged weapons including a machete, hatchet and several throwing knives
Gas mask and filter

Empty glass bottles
Rags
Flammable liquids

Homemade Caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)

Metal pipes
Axes
Bolt cutters
Sledge hammers

Old tires (for burning)

Repelling equipment

Kryptonite locks
Empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields
Material for protective padding
An army helmet

Five persons were arrested this morning for probable cause conspiracy to riot, conspiracy to commit civil disorder and conspiracy to damage property. Those arrests are as follows:

At 2301 23rd Avenue South, Minneapolis, one individual was taken into custody:
Nathanael David Secor (DOB: 1/29/82)

At 3240 17th Avenue South, Minneapolis, three individuals were taken into custody:
Garrett Scott Fitzgerald (DOB: 2/28/83)
Eryn Chase Trimmer (DOB: 7/18/85)
Monica Rachel Bicking (DOB: 6/23/85)

And Erik Charles Oseland (DOB: 4/11/87) was taken into custody at an undisclosed location.

These individuals are being held at the Hennepin County Jail.

A portion of the property recovered will be on display at 2:30 PM today at the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office – 425 Grove Street – Media will enter security check-point on Grove Street and be directed upon arrival.
Any further information can be received through Holli Drinkwine at the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office (651-248-6653).

Could a roundup of anti-RNC activists be on tap for this weekend in Minneapolis?

Days ahead of the Republican National Convention, members of activist groups are feeling the heat from authorities. A number of high profile police interactions this week are underscored by reports of police visiting activist gathering spots and engaging in intimidating behavior.

It raises the possibility that activists could be detained this weekend and prevented from exercising free speech at the RNC.

Bruce Nestor of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild says, “I am fearful of the 36-hour hold in Minneapolis.”

Nestor is referring to the Minneapolis Police Department policy of holding detainees for up to 36 hours before charging them with a crime. One rumor circulating in activist circles is that Minneapolis cops will sweep up a number of “usual suspects” this weekend. Owing to the fact that the 36-hour policy does not apply on Sundays or holidays (such as Labor Day on this coming Monday), the clock would not start on those holds until next Tuesday morning–meaning that anyone detained late in the day on Friday could be held until midday next Wednesday, when the convention is more than halfway over.

One event this weekend that bears watching is the monthly Critical Mass taking off from Loring Park on Friday evening. The ride will mark the one year anniversary of mass arrests by the Minneapolis Police Department, and of the 19 arrestees not one was convicted, although two did pay minor traffic fines. Because of video by citizen journalists, accounts by police were directly contradicted in court.

Could police nab activists there to prevent them from protesting at the RNC?

“I haven’t heard anything about any organized targeting, but with individual officers, preventive detention is not out of the realm of possibility,” says Nestor.

St. Paul attorney Gena Berglund said that more likely, the police will be engaging in intimidating behavior. “Generally, in the past, police officers target convergence space, spaces where activists tend to gather before big events,” according to Berglund. “The police don’t really do anything but ask a lot of questions and say things like ‘We are watching you and we know you are with this group or that group or you know this person and this person is on our list.’”

And it is already occurring. “We have also seen visiting by police officers of individuals at their homes and businesses in an attempt to intimidate,” said Berglund.

Police searched the apartment of one protester after appearing with a warrant — though all they took was a map of St. Paul) . The Glass Bead Collective visited the RNC convergence space to film for their documentary just hours before their cameras were confiscated by police. While they were there, police showed up to ask questions at the convergence space and “look around.” When Glass Bead members turned on their cameras, the police quickly left.

“Whether there will be actual arrests [this weekend], I don’t know,” she said. “But it wouldn’t be inconsistent with what police have done in the past.”

As the Republican National Convention draws closer, fears of police overreach are already being realized. In just the past four days, a number of incidents have raised the suspicions of Twin Cities civil libertarians.

On Saturday evening, six people were detained in downtown St. Paul. The group was allegedly photographed, patted down and had its belongings searched without permission. They also said they were asked if they were “militant protesters or anarchists.” (See MnIndy’s coverage, including The UpTake’s video, here.)

“We were told that we were being made an example of and that we should go and tell our friends that they will meet the same reaction if they’re seen anywhere near the location of the St. Paul Police Department Headquarters,” said one of those detained by police.

Monday evening, a former journalist taking pictures on Minneapolis’ North Side was handcuffed after photographing police at the Special Operations Division offices, according to MPR’s Tim Nelson. The former journalist said he was “warned to stay away from all of the RNC activities. The investigators explained to me that nothing would happen to me unless one of the sites I photographed was compromised, or I was detained again for anything related to the RNC.”

But the most egregious example of pre-RNC police abuses occurred Tuesday morning in Minneapolis’ Northeast neighborhood.

Three independent journalists from New York City were detained near a bus stop at 27th and Washington St. NE and their reporter’s notes, cameras and computers confiscated. The Minneapolis Police Department initially told the trio that they were stopped because police were investigating several car break-ins in the area. By the end of the detention, the police said “homeland security” concerns and trespassing in a rail yard were the reason they were stopped.

Vlad Teichberg, Olivia Katz and Anita Braithwaite are from the New York-based Glass Bead Collective. They traveled to the Twin Cities to attend the convention and document interactions between protesters and police.

They insist they did not go to any rail yards and have witnesses who saw them on the No. 17 bus line.

“We felt like we’d been mugged by the police,” Teichberg said Tuesday afternoon. In addition to the detention, police searched the trio’s belongings without their permission and confiscated the equipment without providing them with a receipt of what was taken.

They even confiscated Braithwaite’s clothing and money.

“The police refused to even give us a receipt,” said Teichberg. “We do not know if we can get our equipment back, because as far as we know they are not even acknowledging it is in their possession.”

The trio’s lawyers say that MPD has indicated they want a search warrant to view the contents of the computer and cameras.

“What they took away was our ability to report,” said Teichberg. “What kind of homeland security do you have when police can come and take away your right to exercise your constitutional rights?”

Bruce Nestor of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild said they want to see the squad car video of the detention, and added that the shifting story told by police raises questions. “We are putting on public notice to the Minneapolis Police Department that those squad car videos need to be preserved in unedited form.

“This is absolutely outrageous behavior by the Police Department towards individuals who are engaged in protected First Amendment activity and have a record of exposing police misconduct,” said Nestor.

The Glass Bead Collective’s video has been used in court to demonstrate police actions at protests.

Do these incidents raise the possibility that authorities are using the RNC as an excuse to overstep constitutional rights?

“Arrogance doesn’t need an excuse,” said St. Paul attorney Ted Dooley. “These types of incidents happen frequently. The difference now is that people are watching them, witnessing and giving testimony.”

Dooley also said that these actions aren’t about intimidation. “It’s a straight out challenge. It’s not really a coincidence that they went after someone who had a history of exposing just this kind of behavior by the police,” he said. “It just seemed a little bit planned.”

Indeed, residents of the Northeast neighborhood where the incident occurred, as well as National Lawyers Guild members stopping by Tuesday, said it appeared that undercover surveillance has been occurring there this afternoon.

“It’s very ominous,” said Dooley. “The attack on these three was outrageous. One of them from New York said, ‘The police in New York can be assholes, but even there, they don’t just walk up and take stuff.’ It’s dumbfounding.”

Representatives of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War argued that the planned route is logistically infeasible and potentially dangerous. “We feel like the permit issued by the police is either idealistic or naive,” Meredith Aby told the council, noting that they are expecting 50,000 protesters.

Last week the Police Department announced that the Sept. 1 parade would be allowed to proceed from the Capitol down Cedar Street, across 7th Street toward the Xcel Energy Center, and conclude at a triangle of streets adjacent to the convention location. Protest organizers fear that the tight confines of the parade’s terminus will create a dangerous bottleneck and result in potential altercations with police officers.

Attorneys for the protest group also argued that requiring the parade to pass by the Xcel center no later than 2 p.m. will not allow them to communicate their message to convention delegates and that it circumvents their First Amendment rights. “The alternative permit issued by the St. Paul police really puts the coalition within sight and sound of an empty building,” said Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. “The right to march, to demonstrate at a political convention, is not an afterthought.”

City Council members were largely unmoved by their arguments. Only Dave Thune deemed the concerns about safety and time constraints significant enough to support the group’s appeal.

The City Council’s decision likely means the dispute is headed back to court. “My guess is we’re going to proceed with the lawsuit that’s currently pending in federal court,” Nestor said after the hearing.

The St. Paul Police Department issued a detailed permit today laying out the parade route that protesters will be allowed to utilize on the opening day of the Republican National Convention. Marchers will be permitted to walk from the Capitol down Cedar St., proceed across 7th St. toward the Xcel Energy Center, and then circle back on a triangle of streets adjacent to the convention location.

“We believe we have struck that difficult balance that we’ve been looking for between free expression and safety and security,” assistant chief Matt Bostrom, who is overseeing RNC security, told reporters at a press conference this afternoon. “I believe it’s unprecedented access to the event.”

According to Bostrom, protesters will not be segregated from the Xcel center by barbed wire, as was the case at the Democratic convention in Boston four years ago. “If there is something there it would be a material that you can see through and you can hear through,” he said. “And we’re not going to mess with that.”

The assistant chief also insisted that parade security will be no different from other large gatherings in St. Paul. “Unless we get some confirmation that there are people in that route who have ill intentions, we’re going to staff this the way we normally staff parades,” he said.

The city issued a preliminary parade permit to the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War in March, but the authorization lacked specific details on when and where protesters would be allowed to gather. The coalition filed a lawsuit against St. Paul in U.S. District Court, arguing that the vague parade terms violated the group’s constitutional rights. A hearing on the suit is slated for Friday.

It’s unclear what impact the newly issued permit will have on the litigation. “I don’t know,” Bostrom said when asked about the lawsuit. “As you probably understand, I can’t comment on that.”

Lawyers for the protest group raised a couple of remaining issues with the new permit. Bruce Nestor said his clients have concerns that the parade route will not physically accommodate all of the protesters and that they will be required to pass by the Xcel Energy Center no later than 2 p.m.

“They believe that will segregate the marchers from the majority of the delegates, the main activities of the day, as well as really segregate the marchers from the main media coverage in the evening,” he said. “The city is willing to grant freedom of speech to the Republican convention to disrupt traffic and put a considerable burden on the police. I think our clients believe that this is a grudging concession to the right of citizens to let their objections be heard.”