on September 1, 2008 Approximately 10,000 largely peaceful protesters marched against the war in Iraq and 2,000 more to end homelessness and poverty. They represented a number of organizations opposed to the Republican Administration including the
Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign,
Veterans for Peace,
Iraq Veterans Against the War,
Military Families Speak Out, the
Teamsters,
Code Pink, the
American Indian Movement and the RNC Welcoming Committee. About 1,000 people in place for the third major march, and the last to be sanctioned, were stopped on Thursday, September 4, 2008, by police because they attempted to begin their march after the time their march permit expired. The
Anti-War Committee, which supports
nonviolent action and
civil disobedience and had cooperated with
anarchist groups, had organized and publicized the march to protest at the time of McCain's acceptance speech, which was in violation of the court-approved protest permit time. march to abolish poverty on September 2, 2008
Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty and 10,000 Ron Paul supporters attended the
Rally for the Republic, a protest convention on September 2, 2008, held a few miles from the Xcel Energy Center at the Minneapolis
Target Center in direct contrast to the Republican National Convention. Several groups had been preparing to protest near the convention. In early January 2008, protesters marched from the
Minnesota State Capitol to the Xcel Energy Center in hopes of securing a protest permit. The
Saint Paul Police Department authorized the event, but only approved the permit through July 2008. On February 8 and February 9, 2008, antiwar protesters attended a weekend conference at the
University of Minnesota to discuss the protests and antiwar rally. On February 28, 2008, the
Associated Press (AP) reported that the police department adopted new guidelines for the investigation of protest groups. The police department said that this did not have anything to do with the convention. In early March 2008, the city of Saint Paul gave the first permits to protest organizers. The city had said that it was not going to follow the "New York model" for protest security, referring to the tactics the
New York City Police Department used for the
2004 Republican National Convention protest activity. Later, on March 24, 2008, the antiwar group the
Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, sued the city, claiming their
free speech and
due process rights were denied by the vagueness of the permits which did not specify a permitted route for their march. On July 16, 2008, a Federal judge upheld the terms of the permit. And when the time came on September 2, 2008, police led the
Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign for two hours on a trek away from the convention which had been less than from their starting point.
Search warrants and arrests Before the convention began, search warrants were executed by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher in coordination with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Six persons who were a part of the organizing group, the RNC Welcoming Committee, were arrested when police executed search warrants on a handful of homes in Minneapolis and Saint Paul during the weekend preceding the convention. Media outlets reported on several of the searches. Given the nature of the probable cause for the warrant applications, a district court judge authorized
no-knock warrants. Police entered the homes wearing body armor with weapons drawn, which is standard for no-knock warrants. Additionally, a
black bloc smashed windows of downtown businesses and slashed the tires several police cars, lit one police car on fire, and used a garbage dumpster as a battering ram against another. About 12 protesters were arrested. During the convention's first three days, more than 300 including journalists, healthcare workers, and legal observers. Of these felony arrests, many cases were dropped or reviewed, sometimes for lesser charges, and about 21 were found to be prosecutable. About 102 persons were arrested for unlawful assembly at a
Rage Against the Machine concert in downtown Minneapolis. Three journalists from
Democracy Now!—including principal host
Amy Goodman—were detained by police during their reporting on the protests. According to a press release by
Democracy Now!, Goodman was arrested after confronting officers regarding the arrest of her colleagues. The officers were in the midst of crowd control, and ordered Goodman to move back. She was arrested after refusing the officer's orders. All were held on charges of "probable cause for riot". Several news sources have criticized the arrest as unlawful and a violation of the
freedom of the press, and warned of the "chilling effects" of such measures. Democracy Now! journalist Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar prevailed in a lawsuit against the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the U.S. Secret Service brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights, attorney Steven Reiss from Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York, and Albert Goins of Minneapolis. The federal lawsuit asserted that the government cannot, in the name of security, limit the flow of information by intimidating and arresting journalists who engage in constitutionally protected reporting on speech protected by the First Amendment, such as dissent or law enforcement activities. The settlement included compensation of $100,000 for the three journalists and an agreement by the St. Paul Police Department to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the First Amendment rights of the press and public with respect to police operations — including police handling of media coverage of mass demonstrations — and to pursue implementation of the training program in Minneapolis and statewide. Total arrests of convention protesters numbered approximately 800, although only 15 cases resulted in criminal charges. Search warrants were still being granted into 2009 in relation to the events that transpired during the 2008 RNC.
Post-RNC convictions of protesters •
Bradley Neal Crowder of
Midland,
Texas, pleaded guilty in federal court on January 8, 2009, to one charge of possessing an unregistered firearm (as
Molotov cocktails are defined under federal law) in return for prosecutors dropping two other firearm charges. Each of the three charges carried a maximum of 10 years in prison. He is still awaiting sentencing to between 30 and 46 months in prison depending on whether U.S. Chief Judge Michael J. Davis decides that he played a minor or major role in the crime. Crowder has been in jail since his September 1, 2008, arrest for disorderly conduct. •
David Guy McKay, also of Midland, Texas, was initially released on bail on February 2, 2009, after his first trial ended in a
hung jury. The case never went to retrial as on March 17, McKay accepted a plea deal and plead guilty to three federal felonies: possession of an unregistered firearm (Molotov cocktails), illegal manufacture of a firearm, and possession of a firearm with no serial number, in return for the government not seeking four additional sentencing points for "intent to use" the
Molotov cocktails. Based on transcripts from his first trial, McKay had a good chance of proving entrapment, but if found guilty, he could have faced 30 years in prison on the weapons charges alone. As of May 21, 2009, McKay was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a further 3 years of supervision. • A total of twenty-one individuals were charged with felony crimes. Three pleaded guilty and charges were dropped for two people. An attempt at charging the "RNC 8" with a post-9/11 Minnesota Patriot Act statute "609.714 Crimes committed in furtherance of terrorism" was also dropped. and
Andrew C. Darst, also known as "Panda," "warchyld" or Killswitch. Darst is currently being charged in Ramsey County, MN, with two felony counts of first- and second-degree burglary as well as fifth-degree assault relating to a January 11, 2009, domestic disturbance. ==See also==