St. Paul Police Department

Vain Mainstream just wanted to get to work. The 23-year-old Minneapolis resident was employed by Avalon Security on the opening day of the Republican National Convention last September. His assignment: to keep watch over a parking lot in downtown St. Paul and make sure that the thousands of protesters coursing through the streets of the city didn’t do any damage. Instead, he was swept up by police and detained in jail for three days. Now he’s among 27 plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed against police today.

A year ago the Republican National Convention opened at the Xcel Energy Center. The St. Paul Police Department pledged that protesters and Republican delegates alike would be welcome on the city’s streets. The reality was that roughly 800 people were arrested, primarily in mass sweeps. The contentious four-day gathering continues to play out in the state’s courts through both criminal cases and civil lawsuits.

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.

By Anna Pratt and Paul Demko

Early in the day protesters were joking with the riot police.

This group of anarchists, many of them wearing masks, refused to speak with reporters. Occasionally they would pause in the parade route, allow the marchers ahead to separate themselves and then sprint forward as a group down the road.

As the [...]

The St. Paul Police Department issued a detailed permit today laying out the parade route that protesters will be allowed to utilize on the opening day of the Republican National Convention. Marchers will be permitted to walk from the Capitol down Cedar St., proceed across 7th St. toward the Xcel Energy Center, and then circle [...]

On Sept. 1, thousands of protesters are expected to converge on St. Paul to mark the opening of the Republican National Convention. The ad-hoc plan is for demonstrators to gather at the State Capitol grounds around 11 a.m. and eventually march to the Xcel Energy Center, where 2,500 Republican delegates will presumably name John McCain [...]