Details after the jump, including the names of those whose trials start this week.

CRASS tells the Minnesota Independent that trials start this week for Vernon Rodrigues (felony); Shannon Alsup, Ashley Majer, Lisa Mirkovich, Loren Yglecias (gross misdemeanors); and Jared Collins, Leif Johnson, Thomas Kamen and Andrew Wilson (misdemeanors).

The protest against Coleman is set for 4:30 p.m. today at Mancini’s Steak House, 531 W. Seventh St., St. Paul.

The call-in to Gaertner’s office is set for  9 a.m.–5 p.m. Tuesday and 8 a.m.–1 p.m. Wednesday. That effort leads up to the next court date for the eight people arrested before the convention began who are known as the RNC8: Luce Guillen Givins, Max Specktor, Nathanael Secor, Eryn Trimmer, Monica Bicking, Erik Oseland, Robert Czernik and Garrett Fitzgerald.

CRASS describes itself as “non-hierarchical coalition of RNC arrestees and community allies” that includes Coldsnap Legal Collective, Friends of the RNC 8, the National Lawyers Guild – Minnesota, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Indymedia, and Veterans for Peace.

On Friday, Joe Robinson received the first RNC protester felony sentence – a $100 fine and 100 hours of community service — from Ramsey County District Court Judge Salvador Rosas, who is assigned to hear the RNC8 case on Wednesday.

St. Paul police have said that they will issue that information by May 31, a full three months after the coalition was granted a conditional permit and a year and a half after the coalition first requested a permit to march.

Continued: Click “Read more”The Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union released this statement about the contents of the lawsuit:

The City has violated the Coalition’s right to free speech and due process by failing to issue anything other than an ambiguous “Conditional Alternative Permit” in response to the Coalition’s demonstration application, and by failing to grant the Coalition’s appeal of the “Conditional Alternative Permit”, to seek basic clarification of the conditions under which the demonstration will occur.

The current “Conditional Alternative Permit” fails to specify any time or route for the demonstration, and imposes police guidelines that conflict with City ordinance and violate the First Amendment.  The City of St. Paul simultaneously maintains that the current permit provides a sufficient answer to the Coalition’s application, and that the current permit does not constitute a final permit sufficient to warrant an appeal. Such an ambiguous position restrains both the Coalition’s speech rights and its access to administrative process. In the interest of free speech and rigorous public discourse, the Coalition must be granted its permit in full, with sufficient time to continue planning for the influx of up to 50,000 demonstrators in St. Paul in September, 2008.