A-Infos (en) US, Boston, Anarchist journal BAAM #13 - Riot Police Target Journalists at RNC by Sofia Jarrin, Boston IMC

<image> Support for journalists at Poor People's March during RNC. Photo by 
Bradley, Santa Cruz IMC ---- By the last count, as many as 818 protesters, 
journalists, and bystanders were arrested previous to and during the Republican 
National Convention. ---- Journalists and videographers were particularly 
targeted as they tried to document the protests, largely peaceful, and random 
acts of civil disobedience. On Saturday, two  days before the convention, 
multiple house and office raids took place and people were detained for hours, 
most prominently members from I-Witness and the RNC Welcoming Committee. Some 
from the committee, eight in total, were charged with "conspiracy to riot in 
furtherance of terrorism" based on a Minnesota law that was shaped after the 
Patriot Act.

    "Cops came and served warrants in several
houses, arrested several people, and seized a
lot of equipment," said Kris Hermes from the
Coldsnap Legal Collective, an organization
created to help release many of the protesters
that were expected to be arrested. "Not only
personal belongings were seized, but also po-
litical propaganda by the box load. There was
no criminal activity happening at either of
these houses or the convergence space."
    I-Witness is an organization that docu-
ments police brutality and was crucial in get-
ting charges dropped against many of those
arrested at the RNC in 2004. This time, I-
Witness was visited by the police no less
than three times, forced to relocate once, and
accused of holding hostages in the building
they were working. Luckily members of the
National Lawyers Guild stood by their side.
    "We have seen systematic intimidation of
independent journalists. We had the arrest
of at least two Indymedia journalists and
journalists with Free Speech TV. Also Amy
Goodman as well as two other journalists
unprecedented and there seemed to be a con-
certed effort to intimidate and detain protest-
ers before the RNC events kicked off. On both
Tuesday and Wednesday, most of it happened
in the cover of night.
    "The [Poor People's] march ended and
there were no direct action, no speakers and
started slowly drifting away. But then, sud-
denly we met this line of police blocking two
corners of intersection. I think it was St. Paul
and Seventh, and for no reason... They just
gave a dispersal order and people were kind
of confused," said Sasha. "They fired the first
concussion grenade and started shooting tear
gas, and people started panicking. But all the
way down towards the Capitol, there were
line of police at every intersection blocking
the other ways and as people reached those
lines, people were being pepper sprayed indis-
criminately as they ran by the line of police.
Hundreds were indiscriminately sprayed."
    That was on Tuesday around 9:00 PM, and
by Thursday when McCain was scheduled to
speak, the crowd of protesters had dwindled
to 500 plus, who despite the intimidation,
tried to march towards the Xcel Center where
the candidate declaimed peace.
    According to the Coldsnap Legal Collec-
tive, the police were able to get a 50 million
dollar grant from the Federal Government to
bring law enforcement officers from other
parts of Minnesota and out of state, as well as
arm officers with 2 million dollars worth of
chemical irritants and tasers.
    "They [the police] don't want to see that
kind of imagery get out. They want to spin
their story in a particular way," said Sasha.
   "Thank you to the thousands of people who
   courageously faced 10 ton buses, concussion
   grenades, tear gas, pepper spray, batons,
   charging horses, gas masks, rubber bullets,
   and all of the tools of repression and intimi-
   dation that were used yesterday to repress the
   public in this supposed democracy.
   Your direct actions stand in stark contrast
   to the conventioneers inside the Xcel Energy
   Center, passively dragging the party line and
   the rest of this world down with it.
   We are inspired by the extraordinary people
   who stopped buses, blocked highway ramps,
   and breached concrete barriers to reclaim the
   streets and recapture the space of downtown
   St Paul" - From RNC WC, September 2

--------------------
See also:
http://baamboston.org (not allways avilable)
Email: wordup (nospam) riseup.net
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