Monday, September 01, 2008

Protests in St. Paul

I did not see any of the protests in St. Paul--I will tomorrow. Let me put all of this into perspective. Within a mile radius of the Xcel Center there were no mass protests. That's because the police presence, supplemented by officers as far away as Duluth, is massive. Hey, there are even cops from the Minnesota Conservation Police in St. Paul. There are roadblocks and fences everywhere. The protests for the most part were taking place in front of the state capitol building--one mile away. A few of the bolder protesters got within a couple of blocks of the Xcel Center, but they didn't make it to the fences protecting us from this rabble, let alone get inside.

Do you know how I found out about the protests? CNN coverage while I was writing blog posts in the media center--inside the convention center.

But the protesters, who style themselves as anarchists, are not harmless. Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit wasn't so lucky, the convention bus he was riding on was hit by a cement bag thrown from an overpass. These are very organized anarchists.

Pam of Atlas Shrugs has more.

As does the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

Shouting "our streets, their war," about 10,000 demonstrators -- far fewer than the 50,000 some had predicted -- flooded into downtown St. Paul's narrow streets Monday on the steamy first day of the Republican National Convention.

While block after block of marchers chanted and peacefully waved signs, the carnival atmosphere turned increasingly ugly as Monday wore on. Before the bulk of the demonstrators finished their march, rogue bands of a few hundred protesters splintered off. Some smashed windows at Macy's and a downtown bank building; others challenged police by blocking roads.

By Monday evening, authorities said 283 people had been arrested, including 129 on felonies. Dozens were pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed. One police officer was punched in the back, another suffered from heat exhaustion, and St. Paul hospitals reported nine minor injuries and several heat-related cases in emergency rooms.

Hundreds of police officers, sweltering in heavy riot gear, swept in to block streets and protect delegate buses as the St. Paul police requested help from 150 National Guard troops by 3 p.m. The bulk of the arrests occurred late in the afternoon and early in the evening, long after the throngs had dissipated.

But the convention went on, the delegates got to the Xcel Center, Laura Bush and Cindy McCain spoke, and quite a few anarchists have greatly complicated their lives.

For what? I wonder if those arrested believe it was worth it?

For those people protesting tomorrow: The convention will go on, you won't disrupt it, and you won't block delegates and members from the media getting there.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm one of your Dem readers and I was in Denver and came across the occasional protest, some more organized than others. I don't know about your experience, but the ones I saw, some were left of where the mainstream Democratic party is, some were well right and some were just from outer space, but they all had one thing in common no matter how organized/disorganized they were, I don't think they changed a single person's mind. What's the point?

It seems like the people you are describing in Minn/St. Paul are a bit more violent than the ones I saw, but I doubt they made you or any of your fellow Republicans rethink their position on any issues. So these idiots are just getting arrested for nothing. I don't get it.

It's all so ineffective.

Marathon Pundit said...

It's all so ineffective

Agreed.

Anonymous said...

Agreed with both Dem Reader and Mr. Ruberry.

...That said, from what I've read and been told these sorts of punks were trying to get active in Denver but the security presence was clamping down stronger. (It has been strong in the Twin Cities already with even some journalists getting picked up in police sweeps.)

Not sure if that says something about the difference between a Dem or a GOP governor as host, or if that's even at the heart of this problem with the GOP convention.

pathickey said...

Roll over Bakunin and tell Kropotkin the News!

Love these pasty dweebs who live in Mom's basement, eat Pop Tarts, watch VH1 and plot world domination!

'Mom, I'm taking the Mastercard Gold - it's as much mine as yours!'

http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2008/09/roll-over-bakunin-mtv-gen-anarchists.html