Hundreds to be charged in court after RNC protests

[undeterred]

Source: CNN

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) -- Almost 300 people will be formally charged in Ramsey County District Court on Tuesday after they were arrested during protests at the Republican National Convention, a police spokesman said.

Police arrested 284 people Monday after firing projectiles, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse a crowd demonstrating near the convention site. Police used plastic handcuffs to detain between 20 and 30 of them a few blocks from the security perimeter around the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

St. Paul police said 130 of the 284 arrested were being held on felony charges. The rest were charged with various misdemeanors.

A crowd of about 300 people conducted what appeared to be a sit-in in a parking lot near the Mississippi River on Monday.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/02/rnc.security/

[Aviation Pro]

1. To the LEO leadership (not the cops who are just trying to do their jobs)....

...your time is coming, the Constitution will be restored, the model will be the civility that was the convention in Denver. Your heavy-handed tactics to protect a group of stupid, old, white criminals ensures that you are not just complicit but an accessory to the fact.

Hope you enjoy your stay in the big house, I'm sure you'll make a lot of new 'friends.'

[Traveling_Home]

3. In Denver the LEOs were NOT Civil

There were far fewer demonstrators in Denver but the omnipresence of the Cops everywhere made it feel like a police state. The 16th street mall had 10 riot police every block. Maybe it seemed worse since they had little to do but stand around looking mean and serious. I live in Denver. I was scared.

[Aviation Pro]

4. I live in Denver too....

...the LEOs I spoke to were courteous and non-threatening. At least that was my perception.

[pattmarty]

6. Cops trying to do their jobs?????? You better open...........

.........your fucking eyes and check out some Indie video & pictures, or better yet, ask Amy Goodman.

[Aviation Pro]

9. The key to this is the leadership....

...you have a very small percentage of rogue cops, ones who've been miserable failures all their fucking lives and want to continue their bullying ways, but for the most part cops are decent human beings. It's the leadership that forces them into a compromised situation. Remove the leadership, imprison them and replace them with management that knows how to do good community-based law enforcement.

(Better idea, have an all out national education effort to give opportunities where none existed and reduce crime to next to nothing).

[pattmarty]

11. Agree totally on the leadership. Disagree on the "most cops....

......are decent human beings". I am 62 yo and have had my "share" of fucked up ass hole type cops. My experience has been the "decent human beings" cops are definitely in the minority. I have always maintained that to become a cop you must have what I call the "John Wayne complex". There are good ones out there (I have met some), but my opinion (and many others too) they are in the minority.

[stillcool]

2. I wonder how many were released..

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. AFTER, meaning that they will be held without charges for several days

Would this be a violation of their basic civil rights? My understanding is that a person CANNOT, under any circumstances, be held for more than 24 hours without being charged. If they are held until Friday morning -- that would be 72 hours -- without being charged, wouldn't they have an air-tight case for violation of constitutional rights?

[Buenaventura]

13. Welcome to

Guantanamo North.

[pattmarty]

7. Well, the good citizens better open up their "municipal checkbooks"....

....'cause after all the court appeals are done, they will be paying a rather large legal bill & settlements.

[stubtoe]

8. Remember the media windup to the Democratic Convention?

Like it was going to be 1968 all over again? And it wasn't?

So, where's the media coverage/hype/outrage for this, at the Republican convention??

[Buenaventura]

10. Cops or Blackwater Scum

thugs are thugs - and in MSP we can't even tell them apart

[mike_c]

12. welcome to DU!

:thumbsup: