post rnc hangover

I woke up this morning still thinking about what I saw last night. The Anti-War Committee held a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol. The group was given a permit for a one hour rally. (Wow how generous of the city of St. Paul.) After the rally, the group marched towards the Excel Center but were met by riot police and military force. Once again a crowd of peaceful protesters were denied their first amendment rights to assemble peacefully and voice opposition to the war.

The cops blocked roads to downtown at the intersection of John Ireland Blvd. and 12th St. A creative party atmosphere arose in the street. Protesters sang old protest songs. The kids skateboarded, biked, chanted, sang, and drew on the street with sidewalk chalk. "Oh yeah that sounds really scary." After a while my friend and I walked down the road to 11th and Cedar and were met with more police in riot gear. The police presence was unreal. They were at every intersection. Just how many cops did Minnesota have? We were told by the cops to disperse and go west. We turned around and tried to figure out how to get to the Northstar Wellness center to see if there was anything we could help with. We walked back up to the capitol and once again met with an incredible police presence. Overkill doesn't even begin to describe it. We walked up Cedar St. and the cops told us to keep moving go west towards the satellites (porta potties) on the capitol grounds. More cops in riot gear were in front of the satellites. I had that trapped feeling again that soon I would be pepper sprayed. I broke out into my rendition of "Proud to be an American," which is "ashamed to be an american were I am oppressed by the police." Or something along that line. My friend said, "Shut up not now." I thought, fuck it. Would they arrest me for singing badly? I was pissed. I was mad that the show of force by the police was so disproportionate to a peaceful protest. The only anger I saw in the group was an agent provocateur, who walked around the crowd repeatedly yelling, "Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!" He wasn't with the protesters but was with the cops. He was quickly marked as a provocateur and ignored. The was a huge presence of undercover cops which most of the crowd acknowledged.

As we walked up to University to the wellness center a multitude of cop cars sped by with sirens blasting. We looked at each other and thought what the fuck is going down. When we reached the wellness center we heard a report that the cops used gas and flash bombs to herd the crown on to the Marrion St. Bridge. The crowd had no escape route and were face down waiting arrest. Many people escaped and made it to the wellness center to get decontaminated from chemical weapons used by the police. Once again I felt as I was in a war zone in my own city. A war zone created by the fear and oppression from the police.

RNC related articles
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/090808a.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVfkcrYXw-M
Eyewitness: Police Brutality at the RNC - Street Medics