UPDATE: VIDEO OF AMY GOODMAN'S ARREST
A post on the Minnesota Independent has a link to ColdSnapLegal’s invaluable twitter, which shows a detailed breakdown of prior incidents involving police and protesters that have been happening throughout the day. The twitter shows a report of Democracy Now! journalists being arrested and includes Amy Goodman.
Prior to the start of the DNC and RNC, Amy Goodman wrote an op-ed published in the Capital Times, a newspaper from Madison, WI:
“The bulwark against tyranny is dissent. Open opposition, the right to challenge those in power, is a mainstay of any healthy democracy. The Democratic and Republican conventions will test the commitment of the two dominant U.S. political parties to the cherished tradition of dissent. Things are not looking good.”
She also wrote that, “Meanwhile, in the Twin Cities, the evening Obama was giving his Democratic acceptance speech in June, the St. Paul Police Department arrested a 50-year-old man peacefully handing out leaflets promoting a Sept. 1 march on the Republican National Convention. ACLU Minnesota predicts hundreds will be arrested in St. Paul, and is organizing and training 75 lawyers to defend them.”
Audio of Amy Goodman's arrest can be found here.
So far, ACLU predictions have been on the mark, unfortunately. If you follow ColdSnapLegal’s twitter, you can get a sense of the tension and imagine what it must be like to have arrests taking place every 15 to 20 minutes.
In fact, let's give credit where credit is due. I am going to publish ColdSnapLegal's twitter as a quicklink on OpEdNews and suggest this be a main headline for the duration of the RNC.
Journalists and medics along with protesters are being pepper sprayed and gassed as riot police show no respect for Americans’ constitutional right to practice civic freedom.
Rubber bullets are being used on protesters.
Squad cars are driving into crowds and dispersing them.
Ramsey City Jail is on lockdown refusing arrestees or detainees access to lawyers and St. Joseph Hospital is on lockdown denying arrestees or detainees water.
Members of I-Witness Video, a group that, according to their website, “uses video to protect civil liberties” and “probe police actions at First Amendment events” have been victim of “preemptive video arrest.”
A comment on a DailyKos post titled, “UPDATE: Rubber Bullets, Water Cannons, Pepper Spray, Tear Gas in St. Paul,” explains how I-Witness is being put under house arrest and facing threats of seizure of their computers and video cameras because of their success in exposing police misconduct during the 2004 Republican National Convention.
However, despite the police repression, it appears that some protesters are making the situation more difficult for those who have truly organized to communicate a clear message to those in St. Paul, Minnesota, the U.S., and the world.
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