Amy Goodman: “Why We Were Falsely Arrested”
Source: Truthdig
by: Amy Goodman
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. ~U.S. Constitution's First Amendment
St. Paul, Minnesota - Government crackdowns on journalists are a true threat to democracy. As the Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., this week, police are systematically targeting journalists. I was arrested with my two colleagues, Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, while reporting on the first day of the RNC. I have been wrongly charged with a misdemeanor. My co-workers, who were simply reporting, may be charged with felony riot. complete story
Related Stories from St. Paul, MN:
Source: Democracy Now! see video, listen to audio or read text of all stories below
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Eight Members of RNC Activist Group Lodged with Terrorism Charges
I-Witness Video Collective Forced Out of Living Space After Second Raid by St. Paul Police in Five Days
Amy Goodman Questions Ramsey County Prosecutors on Jailing, Charges of Journalists
Hundreds of Jailed Protesters Held for 2+ Days Following Mass RNC Arrests
Young woman holding a flower and offering it to the police is pepper sprayed outside RNC. Is this the U.S.A.'s Tiananmen Square?
Department of Pre-Crime
September 1, 2008
As the Republican National Convention convened Monday, September 1, in downtown St. Paul, more than 10,000 people took to the streets to protest the Iraq War and demand new priorities for the nation.
In a move reminiscent of the Department of Pre-crime in the movie Minority Report (and the preemptive propaganda for the Iraq war), citizens are being arrested even though no crime has been committed. Minneapolis police began raiding homes on Friday night and continued through Saturday and Sunday, handcuffing citizens, searching the homes and confiscating computers and other items. The raids appear to be targeting news organizations that video police at protests.
This is a ongoing, lengthy, involved story and we are witnessing history—the breakdown of our rights to be secure in our own premises, be protected from illegal searches and the right to protest. There are many links on this page and I encourage you to investigate them.
There are many individuals in Minneapolis who are trying to wake the American people up to the fact that the terrorists and those who are trying to take away our freedoms are not Moslems in some far away land but are individuals who are operating secretly within our own government for the purpose of dismantling the U.S.A. leading to a one world government.
See for yourself that the individuals in these videos who were harassed by the police are simply fellow citizens who are either trying to call attention to policy that does not reflect the will of the people and/or videotaping the police during the protests to document the behavior of the police and the protesters. This could be you, your children or your neighbors.
Federal government involved in raids on protesters
Source: salon.com
by Glenn Greenwald
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Today's Star Tribune added that the raids were specifically "aided by informants planted in protest groups." Back in May, Marcy Wheeler presciently noted that the Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force—an inter-agency group of federal, state and local law enforcement led by the FBI—was actively recruiting Minneapolis residents to serve as plants, to infiltrate "vegan groups" and other left-wing activist groups and report back to the Task Force about what they were doing. There seems to be little doubt that it was this domestic spying by the Federal Government that led to the excessive and truly despicable home assaults by the police yesterday.
So here we have a massive assault led by Federal Government law enforcement agencies on left-wing dissidents and protesters who have committed no acts of violence or illegality whatsoever, preceded by months-long espionage efforts to track what they do.
And as extraordinary as that conduct is, more extraordinary is the fact that they have received virtually no attention from the national media and little outcry from anyone. And it's not difficult to see why. As the recent "overhaul" of the 30-year-old FISA law illustrated -- preceded by the endless expansion of surveillance state powers, justified first by the War on Drugs and then the War on Terror—we've essentially decided that we want our Government to spy on us without limits. There is literally no police power that the state can exercise that will cause much protest from the political and media class and, therefore, from the citizenry. complete story
Police Raid and Detainment of I-Witness Journalists
Source: iwitnessvideo.info & The Uptake
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The work of the I-Witness Video collective was interrupted this past Saturday, August 30, 2008, when St. Paul police detained 7 members of the group (along with an assortment of other individuals) for several hours. The NYC-based video collective is in St. Paul to document the policing of the protests at the Republican National Convention.
Note: In 2004 I-Witness video work at the National Republican Convention in New York City resulted in 400 people’s charges being overturned because of police misconduct.
Among those individuals detained was Democracy Now! producer Elizabeth Press, who had her camera with her throughout the incident.
Text of Elizabeth Press's report at Democracy Now!
Listen to Elizabeth Press's report to Amy Goodman at Democracy Now!
Below: Democracy Now!'s host Amy Goodman appears in this clip jumping a fence to question police officers.
Police raid houses on suspected protestors in Minneapolis charging them with “conspiracy to commit riot”
Source: salon.com & The Update
by Glenn Greenwald
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Jane Hamsher and I were at two…homes this morning—one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house.
Several of those who were arrested are being represented by Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers' Guild. Nestor said that last night's raid involved a meeting of a group calling itself the "RNC Welcoming Committee", and that this morning's raids appeared to target members of "Food Not Bombs," which he described as an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group. There was not a single act of violence or illegality that has taken place, Nestor said. Instead, the raids were purely anticipatory in nature, and clearly designed to frighten people contemplating taking part in any unauthorized protests. complete story
Food Not Bombs house among Saturday raids
Source: minnesotaindependent.com
By Paul Schmelzer
Saturday, August 30, 2008
MnIndy RNC reporter Jeff Severns Guntzel is at the Minneapolis Food Not Bombs house, which was raided by police this morning. When Guntzel arrived he saw eight or nine officers enter the house in what he says is a joint operation between officers of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department, the Minneapolis Police Depatment, and the FBI.
At one point a five-year-old boy was escorted from the home by police. In what Guntzel calls a “sweet moment,” the boy told police he wanted his markers, and the officer went in and came back out a few minutes later. “These are the only colors I could find,” the officer said. “Did I get the right stuff?”
In the video below Dante describes the raid on Food Not Bombs, as he was awakened and ordered to lie on the floor, naked and handcuffed, as police searched the house.
Police break down doors in night-time raid
Source: tcdailyplanet.net
By Mary Turck
Saturday, August 30, 2008
“I heard somebody saying, ‘They’re coming, they’re coming!’ And feet pounding on the back stairs, pounding on the door saying they had a search warrant. They busted through the door. They’ve got their guns cocked at people.” 
Sammy Schutz held tightly to five-year-old Gabe, who had been watching a video with his mother and father and about 20 other people when the police stormed into 827 Smith Avenue in St. Paul, ordering everyone down on the floor.
Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies said they were executing a search warrant, but would not show a copy of the warrant to lawyers or reporters. More than a dozen police vehicles, almost all unmarked, and more than 20 sheriff’s deputies and St. Paul police arrived at the building about 9:45 Friday night and were still there at 1 a.m., when I left.
After handcuffing the people in the building (occupants said there were about two dozen on the second floor and “about 40 or 50” on the first floor), police processed them one by one. Each person was asked for identification, name and address, and then photographed.
“They said if you don’t show us ID and get your picture taken, we will arrest you and take you away,” said Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, who had arrived five or ten minutes before the raid began, planning to attend a meeting. “They never said what the basis for arrests would be. We were waiting for a meeting, for God’s sake! I cannot tell you how much like a police state that felt to me.” complete story
Police Swarm & Seize Earth Awareness PermiBus in St. Paul
Source: The Uptake
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Delyla Wilson tours the country with her family in the "PermiBus," a mobile permaculture demonstration. The group is in the Twin Cities to teach people about sustainable living practices.
On the evening of Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 the bus was pulled over in what police eventually described as a routine traffic stop. After detaining the bus occupants, the police decided the bus was a commercial vehicle and impounded it for inspection, leaving the family and their guests stranded and homeless.
The police allowed the Wilsons to remove their dogs and chickens, but were not allowed to retrieve their computers or any other belongings, including their daughter's shoes.
This incident ended a day that saw multiple pre-RNC raids, which some legal observers believe is a coordinated pre-emptive effort by local and national law enforcement agencies to chill RNC protest action.
RNC Eve: The Police Raids Begin
Source: The Uptake
Friday, August 29, 2008
The video above is from the first of a series of raids Ramsey County Sherrifs deputies carried out on groups, people and locations related to plans to protest the Republican National Convention. This raid happened at 10pm on Friday night and Wyoming and Smith in St. Paul.
Police Seize Journalists Cameras & Notes About RNC Protest Plans
Source: The Uptake
Monday, September 1, 2008
A trio of journalists (glassbeadcollective.org) who have a track record of documenting police abuse at political conventions were stopped and searched during the early morning hours in Minneapolis. Police took their video equipment, cell phones, hard drive and notes about protests planned for next week's Republican National Convention.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008, UPDATE: Minneapolis police have returned video equipment to three journlists after seizing it earlier this week. Police said there was no evidence the three had been tresspassing, which is the reason gave for taking the equipment.
Among the items taken by police in the name of homeland security: notes and data about groups planning to protest the Republican National Convention next week.
"We've Been Arrested"—Adventures In Reporting At The RNC
Source: The Uptake
Monday, September 1, 2008
Outside the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, UpTake journalists Corrine McDermid and Oliver Dykstra are swept up in a massive poice arrest.
Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar and host Amy Goodman arrested at RNC
Monday, September 1, 2008
Democracy Now! producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar covering the protesters at the RNC convention in St. Paul, MN were arrested and manhandled by Minneapolis police. When Amy Goodman questioned police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar, she was arrested.
All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar’s violent arrest by baton-wielding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, “I’m Press! Press!,” resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman’s arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested. complete story
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
UPDATE: Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Kouddous and Salazar who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the RNC. Goodman’s crime appears to have been defending her colleagues and the freedom of the press.
Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told Democracy Now! that Kouddous and Salazar were arrested on suspicion of rioting, a felony. While the three have been released, they all still face charges stemming from their unlawful arrest. Kouddous and Salazar face pending charges of suspicion of felony riot, while Goodman has been officially charged with obstruction of a legal process and interference with a “peace officer.”
Democracy Now! forcefully rejects all of these charges as false and an attempt at intimidation of these journalists. We demand that the charges be immediately and completely dropped.
Democracy Now! stands by Goodman, Kouddous and Salazar and condemns this action by Twin Cities’ law enforcement as a clear violation of the freedom of the press and the First Amendment rights of these journalists.
Below: Amy Goodman talks about the arrest and violent treatment by police.
Watch or read the text of Amy Goodman's interview with producer Sharif Nicole Salazar at Democracy Now!
Free Press Calls for Charges to Be Dropped Against Amy Goodman, Independent Journalists. Mayor, police must stop arrests of reporters covering protests at Republican National Convention
AP photographer arrested while covering anti-war protest
Source: Associated Press
Monday, September 1, 2008
An Associated Press photographer was among those arrested at an anti-war march on the first day of the Republican National Convention. He released hours later.
AP photographer Matt Rourke was covering the protest when he was swept up by police moving in on a group of protesters in downtown St. Paul.
David Ake, an AP assistant chief of bureau in Washington, said he was concerned by the arrest of Rourke, a Philadelphia-based photographer.
"Covering news is a constitutionally protected activity, and covering a riot is part of that coverage," Ake said. "Photographers should not be detained for covering breaking news."
Phil Carruthers, director of the prosecution division of the Ramsey County Attorney's Office, said Monday night that no charges against Rourke were anticipated. Rourke, held on a gross misdemeanor riot charge, was released early Tuesday.
FOX News Overstates Number Of Violent Protesters At the RNC
Monday, September 1, 2008
For all the preconvention raids by the police, the violent individuals went undetected and disrupted the peaceful protests. The only individuals raided by police appear to be peaceful individuals. Could it be that the relatively small number of violent protestors (fewer than 300) were actually agents provocateur of the government?
Since the peaceful protestors did not justify the millions of dollars for security pumped into the local law enforcement economy by the federal taxpayer, perhaps folks watching this FOX telecast at home felt that their tax dollars were well spent.
It can't happen here? It already has...
Source: tcdailyplanet.net
By Rich Broderick
August 30, 2008
As I write this, the precise authority under which members of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department participated in raids of houses and private buildings in St. Paul and Minneapolis this weekend is unclear to me. I have heard from a very harried friend at the National Lawyers Guild that the break-ins and arrests of RNC protestors took place under the auspices of the Secret Service and Justice Department—apparently FBI members participated in the raids.
Whatever statutes—at this point, the cause for detentions in Minneapolis has been given as “conspiracy to commit riot,” as flimsy and ad hoc a rationale as the infinitely elastic “Homeland Security Offense” listed on a police report to justify the detention in Minneapolis of independent journalists earlier last week which resulted in the seizure of their equipment and personal belongings—it should be obvious that concerns about this country turning into a police state, a corporation-friendly fascist nation like Singapore or the People’s Republic of China, are greatly misplaced. There’s no need to worry about this happening in the United States.
It already has.
It should also be clear that both the wish list of expanded powers to spy on, arrest, and detain “suspects” without charge that got dropped into the Patriot Act and the whole War on Terror have as their ultimate objective not to make life difficult for terrorists. No. Like the equally bogus War on Drugs, they are designed to make it easier for law enforcement personnel at every level – as always the chief line-of-defense of the propertied classes – to terrorize American citizens. Citizens who should perhaps henceforth more properly be referred to as “American subjects.” complete story
And Now For Something Completely Different (How Not To Get Arrested): Kook Club Clowns—“We Are Not Protesting”
The Kook Club Clowns are "the most prestigious clown club in the Seattle Metropolitan Area." A couple of years back, they put together this humorous protest against the US Patriot Act.
This video is a PepperSpray Production (one of the groups targeted at the RNC in St. Paul). PepperSpray is an all-volunteer activist video collective, the video arm of the Seattle Independent Media Center.
Below: Democratic National Convention in Denver in August 2008
ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors
Source: ABC News
August 27, 2008
On August 27 at the Democratic National Convention, Police in Denver arrested ABC News producer Asa Eslocker as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.
A cigar-smoking Denver police sergeant, accompanied by a team of five other officers, first put his hands on Eslocker's neck, then twisted the producer's arm behind him to put on handcuffs.
A police official later told lawyers for ABC News that Eslocker is being charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful order. He also said the arrest followed a signed complaint from the Brown Palace Hotel.
Eslocker was put in handcuffs and loaded in the back of a police van which headed for a nearby police station. During the arrest, one of the officers can be heard saying to Eslocker, "You're lucky I didn't knock the f..k out of you."
Eslocker and his ABC News colleagues are spending the week investigating the role of corporate lobbyists and wealthy donors at the convention for a series of Money Trail reports on ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson."
Complete story and video here (to watch the video, click the link in the second paragraph "Click here to watch video of the arrest")
Denver Storm Troopers Slam 15 Year-Old Girls to the Ground & Handcuff Them at the DNC
August 27, 2008
Police slam CodePink protester to the ground, call her a “bitch” before arresting her
August 26, 2008