rnc day two, ripple effect and march for our lives

peace

Spearhead at the Ripple Effect concert

Military force at the Ripple Effect concert

Rally before the March for Our Lives

Riot police on the street next to Mears Park

They are ready to mace a peaceful crowd


On the march route

March for Our Lives

March for Our Lives, chanting in the underpass

Convergence of the Ripple Effect concert and the March for Our Lives

The crowds join and march to the Xcel Center

The march moved downtown

More riot police (they are everywhere)

The first of many mace attacks by the police

The media said that we were trying to take over Mickey's Dinner, sure right. We don't have a death wish.

Just how many riot police did the city of St. Paul have? Is Blackwater in there?

more articles:
March for Our Lives at the RNC in St. Paul (part 1 of 2)

march on the rnc, labor day 2008 part two

This is one of the best signs of the day. I agree!

Code pink

Snippers on the roof

march on the rnc, labor day 2008 - part one

"Free Speech" an omen of things to come

Democracy ice sculpture (Another omen of things to come)

Let's hear if for the grandmothers! They have been heroic leaders in the anti-war movement

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

rnc police state

If you’ve been watching mainstream media over the past few days, you may think young anarchists are ruling the streets and creating chaos. The only group “ruling” the streets has been the police in riot gear. On Tuesday night, I was at the “March For Our lives.” The march started with a rally at Meers Park, St. Paul and then went though St. Paul. There were elderly people, babies, and children on the march. It was a diverse crowd of people that came together for a common cause, to fight for human rights. The speakers at the march were inspiring. I felt the group was one as we walked. We came from different backgrounds, different religions, different ethnicities, and so on. That night we came together to march for human rights.

As we wove through St. Paul we reached an underpass. The only audience we had was ourselves. The crowd chanted and sang as the sound reverberated in the underpass. It felt like a cosmic convergence of sound and energy. It felt like the birth of a new movement or at least for me a rebirth of energy to fight on. As we emerged the crowd cheered.

We marched on to the capitol lawn as the Ripple Effect concert was ending. Concertgoers joined the march. We marched from the capitol to the “pen area” at the Excel Center. Riot police were there at the end out the march route. People milled around trying to figure out how to get out and were to go. We walked down to St. Peter and 7th and where met by police in riot gear. We were pinned in at the intersection. Riot police blocked every intersection. The crowd chanted, "whose streets our streets." (This is a very common chant on marches.) Like the bible, the chant is not to be taken literally. Marchers put their fists in the air as a sign of solidarity not as a sign of violence. Of course the mainstream media would like to believe we were trying to take over Mickey’s Diner.

The sun had gone down and confusion set in. I never heard any police order to disperse or that gas would be used on the crowd. The peace team tried to tell the crowd to leave before the police started using gas. Peace teams ushered people to a small gap in the riot police line and away from downtown. The police fired on the crowd as they tried to leave with pepper spray and flash bombs. The noise echoed through the buildings. I couldn’t believe I was being fired on by the cops for doing nothing but expressing my first amendment rights. People screamed and ran to get out of the line of fire. I was maced repeatedly while my hands where in the air as I was trying to leave. Near the end, my friend and me ran through the street with our arms around each other so we didn’t get separated in the chaos. It felt like we were in a war.

More stories about the protest, pepper spray, and bombs.

Running from the Cops at the RNC
Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign Takes Cause to Streets Outside RNC

Video footage

Protestors Tear Gassed! Raw footage - gnooze tear ...

midsummer garden

The Bee Balm, Fireweed, Spiderwort, and Rock Soapwort are in full bloom. The Big Blue Stem and sage are getting tall.

The strawberry patch is about 10 x 3 and the strawberries are a mix of June Bearing and Everbearing strawberries. We harvested about a half pint with many more to harvest in the future.

This is the first time in three years that the Milkweed has flowered. There is a large Monarch caterpillar that has been feeding on the Milkweed.

minneapolis staycation

A while back we took a "staycation" in Minneapolis. We biked the trails at Fort Snelling State Park and photographed the historic veterans home buildings. The bike trail starts at Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis.