RNC journalist 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.