National Lawyers Guild

Charges will not be filed against 323 people who were arrested on the Marion Street and Cedar Street bridges during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention, the St. Paul city attorney’s office announced today. Local civil rights activists say the failure to press charges is the latest evidence that many RNC arrests were frivolous.

After the raids Friday and Saturday by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department and the Minneapolis Police Department led to six arrests, the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is seeking a judicial review of the “probable cause holds” being used to detain the six activists in the Ramsey County Jail.

Ramsey County can hold the arrestees for 36 hours on probable cause, a time line 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.