Police

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak finally got a big public payback for his early backing of Barack Obama as candidate for president when Obama gave the city a shout-out in his address before Congress tonight. Speaking about the beneficial effects of the federal stimulus package, the president said:
There are 57 police officers who are still on [...]

The Republican National Convention. For many, that week in September brings back memories of the acidic smell of tear gas and pepper spray, police in riot gear on every corner and thousands of protesters in the streets. A two hour documentary by the Glass Bead Collective and Twin Cities Indymedia, features disturbing, never-before-seen footage of the RNC and police actions against protesters in the streets of St. Paul. The entire documentary is available on the Terrorizing Dissent website.

A clever trailer puts Sen. John McCain accepting the Republican party nomination in front of images of tear gas and protester arrests.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman’s office issued a statement this morning announcing that the city attorney won’t prosecute journalists who were cited by authorities at the Republican National Convention (RNC) with “presence at an unlawful assembly,” a misdemeanor charge.

That pertains specifically to the journalists who were swept up in the massive arrests during protests in St. Paul on the convention’s first and last days (including MnIndy’s Paul Demko, who was arrested on the last night of the RNC). How many people that might include is unclear, but nearly 50 of the over 800 people arrested or detained were on-site to cover the RNC for professional media or citizen-journalism organizations.

Of the 800-plus people who were arrested or detained in conjunction with RNC protests, a good chunk of them — 43, by our count — were members of the news media. Media representatives in town to cover the events, from both big and small presses, were slapped with citations and pending charges ranging in severity, including unlawful assembly, obstructing the legal process, misdemeanor interference with a peace officer and felony to riot plus other riot pretenses. Many others who weren’t arrested or detained endured pepper-spray and other arms used for crowd-control. Here’s our list of journalists who were detained or arrested. If anyone’s missing, please add them in comments.

Yesterday Steve Perry and I ventured over to St. Paul to talk with staff and clients at the Dorothy Day Center, the homeless shelter, drop-in center and emergency foodshelf that sits across the street a few hundred feet from the arena where the GOP’s big swinging trunks will gather next Monday.

We learned that while the center will remain open during the Republican National Convention, it won’t exactly be business as usual. Details, and reactions from some of the people who hang their hats there, in this MnIndy video report.

A peaceful protest in Denver last night turned ugly as police in riot gear blocked progress of a march down a public street, turning tear gas and paintballs on the corralled crowd, according to the American News Project. In a city that looks to one observer more like a fortress, many protesters were demonstrating against [...]

Looking for a way to cut expenses, Ramsey County is no longer footing the gas bill for officers with take-home cars, as of June 1. The nearly 100 cops who commute to work in department-provided vehicles are now expected to fork over 33 cents for every mile they drive outside the county (60 of the [...]

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed suit in Denver to demand disclosure of security-related equipment purchases by law enforcement for use at the Democratic National Convention. Police have been less than forthcoming about how its $18 million equipment budget — reported to include a “sonic ray gun” to quell feisty crowds — [...]