All weekend long the police talked of the “criminal anarchists,” groups allegedly hellbent on inciting riots and causing destruction during the RNC. Now today, the national media has used images of smashed windows–there was a Macy’s window smashed, windows of a cop car broken when a cop wasn’t in it, and a bank window smashed, I saw it happen–as proof of a bunch of protesters gone wild.

We followed this group for nearly the entire day, a small faction made up of a total of 60 or so Funk the War and Food Not Bombs anti-war protesters and some self-proclaimed “anarchists” who said they weren’t part of any group. (The Food Not Bombs house was one of the homes raided on Saturday.) There was threats of tear gas, and pepper spray used on us more than once. Around 20 people had to have their eyes cleaned out. There was intimidation on every corner and from ramps of parking garages, and one cop wrestling someone to the ground. As cops and the mainstream media would tell it, it was out of control. But for the “anarchists,” it was hardly anarchy.

Caltrops intended to halt traffic.

For one thing, despite the media fearmongering and the ominous presence of riot cops–some aiming tear-gas guns at protesters from garages–and the 12 cop cars following us down the street at one point, for the most the 60 or so protesters in this group were fairly benign, though there were about 15 of them whose worse crime committed was pulling newspaper boxes into the street, and in one case, a Dumpster. When that happened, about five people in the group stopped to clean up the trash that had fallen to the street.

On one street, a few people threw down caltrops to block traffic. One kid who looked under 20 years old jumped on top of a cop car that broke through the pedestrian barrier. Another two smashed windows of a Macy’s, First National Bank, and unoccupied cop car. However, this was the work of maybe five or so people in the breakaway protest group.

Pepper spray was widely used on protesters.

Yet the media headlines say that “anarchists” marred peaceful protests. They broke away and “resisted police.” They caused protests to turn violent. To be sure, a handful certainly weren’t always peaceful or obeying the law. But there was also less than 40 of them in the entire group at many points, and when windows started to get smashed by a lone few, yells came out from the group such as, “What are you doing!? You idiot! How is that going to send a message?” Anarchy and mass chaos? Hardly.

Photos by Tim Roman

Minneapolis Police Department officers stand guard outside the Food Not Bombs house. Photo: Jeff Severns Guntzel

Minnesota Independent RNC reporter Jeff Severns Guntzel is at the Minneapolis Food Not Bombs house, which was raided by police this morning. Facts are still coming in, but Guntzel says that at 8 a.m. neighbors near the home, located at 2301 23rd Avenue South, reported hearing a loud bang followed by yelling. A single police squad car was parked out front. When Guntzel arrived he saw eight or nine officers enter the house in what he says is a joint operation between officers of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department, the Minneapolis Police Depatment, and the FBI. According to one witness who was in the house at the time of the raid, the action is related to last night’s raid on the RNC Welcoming Committee’s “convergence space.” Several other spaces have been raided this morning.

Around 9:20, two Minneapolis Police Property & Evidence trucks pulled up. Present were a Hennepin County Sheriffs’ crime lab truck, a Ramsey County Sheriffs’ squad and an MPD squad, plus at least four unmarked cars parked facing the wrong direction in traffic. Police tape is marking off the yard.

Two men are released from the Food Not Bombs house as reporters, neighbors, and supporters look on. Photo: Jeff Severns Guntzel

At one point a five-year-old boy was escorted from the home by police. In what Guntzel calls a “sweet moment,” the boy told police he wanted his markers, and the officer went in and came back out a few minutes later. “These are the only colors I could find,” the officer said. “Did I get the right stuff?”

As MnIndy reported on Thursday, rumors of a weekend sweep of activist organizations have been swirling. In the last 12 hours, at least three other sites, from the RNC Welcoming Committee’s “convergence space” in St. Paul to sites in South Minneapolis have been raided.

Officers and agents from the Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, Ramsey County Sheriff's office and the FBI collaborated on the raid. Photo: Jeff Severns Guntzel

9:45 A woman named Heather Adams just came out of the Food Not Bombs house and gave Guntzel the following account: She arrived from Chicago at 3 a.m. this morning with plans to protest at the RNC. At 8 a.m. she woke up to find police in the house wearing riot gear and camouflage flak jackets. She says they had rifles drawn. Adams has a broken ankle, and when officers ordered her to roll over on her stomach, she says she was slow to do so and the officer, she says, pushed her with his boot.

Adams says one arrest was made. Nathanael Secor, a main organizer of FNB, was arrested on charges of conspiracy to riot, she says.

9:54: Guntzel says a Ramsey County warrant was served, and the house is now occupied only by law enforcement agents. Evidence has been taken out the back of the house. Adams said law enforcement took photos of maps of St. Paul which were present in the house, as well as house plants. Adams also said that a city inspector was on site as well. The house, according to one law enforcement official, has links to the RNC Welcoming Committee.

10:03: Guntzel has in hand a Hennepin County warrant. It indicates law enforcement was searching for incendiary devices, smoke bombs, urine and feces, and other items. See a transcription of the warrant here. [Update: PDF]

In the alley behind the house, two Minneapolis Police Department Property & Evidence trucks wait to be loaded. Photo: Jeff Severns Guntzel

10:44: The RNC Welcoming Committee issued a press release noting that four individuals were arrested in the raids: Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Nathanael Secor. The press release also notes that “Search warrants for 2 of the 3 raided houses listed only one name apiece, each of individuals not present at the houses and, thus, not arrested.”