Police Break Down Doors in Night-Time Raid on Anarchist Meeting
Dan Clore
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
http://tinyurl.com/6o4xjp
Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting
By Mary Turck , TC Daily Planet
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.
*****
PRESS STATEMENT FROM RNC WELCOMING COMMITTEE AFTER SHERIFF AND SPPD RAID
OF CONVERGENCE SPACE
FRIDAY AUGUST 29 2008
Assitant Police Chief Bostrom has talked about the St. Paul Standard,
and on the anniversary of last years’ critical mass police riot, we saw
its true face. The ramsey county sheriff’s dept and the SPPD raided the
RNC convergence space and detained over 50 people in an attempt to
preempt planned protests of the rnc on Monday.
Looking for items found in any twin cities house like jars, paint, and
rags, this attempt to portray us as criminals and destroy our
credibility has already backfired as evidenced by the masses who have
come to support us.
We are now accused of a simple fire code violation -- which is outside
the scope of the sheriffs department and clearly not justified
provocation for a forceful raid with guns being drawn. Children and
elderly people were inside the convergence center when the police
violently busted down the doors. The police may claim that the raid was
executed according to protocol -- however, the violence inherent in this
action may only be a hint of the violence to be expected on Monday and
beyond, and is only a hint at the violence perpetrated daily by the police.
The convergence center is simply a gathering place and is not used for
illegal actions -- it is a place for workshops and trainings. Tonight we
were watching films and sharing food.
This action will not deter us from our plans to protest the RNC on
September 1st. We want to invite all people who oppose this police
oppression to join us on Septemeber 1st. See you in the streets.
“All I could feel was Mama Bear -- do whatever you want to do to me, but
I need to get my son out safe. He was watching his dad get handcuffed.
And he’s saying, ‘Mommy, mommy, why did they crash through the door?’”
Gabe’s question remained unanswered. 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.
People who had been inside the building told similar stories of police
entering with guns drawn. They said police rushed past the security desk
on the first floor, and used a battering ram to crash through the second
floor back door.
“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.”
After each person was released after being photographed, exiting the
building and crossing between police cars to a crowd of cheering friends
on the sidewalk across from the building. No one was arrested, but
sheriff’s deputies remained inside the building.
Eventually, a city contractor arrived to board up the building,
allegedly for unspecified code violations.
St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune said he was trying to find out
who ordered the building locked up and on what grounds. “This isn’t the
way we do things in St. Paul,” Thune said. “I don’t want the city to get
sucked into something that the sheriff’s office is concocting.”
Thune said that someone had called in the city contractor and ordered
him to secure the building, but this was not done according ot St. Paul
city procedures.
“Normally,” said Thune, “we only board up buildings that are vacant and
ramshackle. The fire inspector has no idea what’s going on. He hadn’t
been called. The person who is on 24/7 call was not called. I talked to
him trying to fid out who did issue that order and why.”
The building at 827 Smith Avenue had been rented by the RNC Welcoming
Committee as a “convergence space,” open to activists for meetings,
eating, and just hanging out. Earlier in the week, a large downstairs
room in the former theater held tables of literature and about a dozen
computers, set up for free wi-fi access for visitors. Large maps showed
downtown St. Paul streets. The kitchen was spotless, with stainless
steel refrigerators and a gas range, looking like a commercial kitchen
in a church basement. The second floor room, where Sammy and her family
were watching a video on consumerism Friday night, had comfortable
theater seats and space for meetings.
Search warrant: from soap flakes and X boxes to Molotov cocktails
A young man who would not give his name said that many people had asked
to see the search warrant. After “what seemed like a long time,” someone
was allowed to read the warrant aloud. His recollection, affirmed by at
least two others, was that the warrant was very long and listed many
items, including soap flakes, X boxes, paint, computer operating support
manuals, caltrops, bleach, floppy disks with digital information,
Molotov cocktails and many other items.
Dave Thune reported that sheriff’s deputies hauled out literature and
other items in boxes. Literature available in the Convergence Center
earlier in the week included “The Struggle is Our Inheritance: A History
of Radical Minnesota,” “Anarchy: A Pamphlet,” “a guide to 2008 antiRNC
organizing,” and “Need to Know Basics: Coldsnap Legal Collective’s
Minnesota Legal Primer for the RNC.”
Police loaded confiscated items into a police vehicle.
The activists had studied their legal rights, and said they repeated
asked to see the search warrant, said they did not consent to searches,
and asked to see their lawyers. At least one person on the second floor
managed to dial a number for the National Lawyer’s Guild (NLG) as the
police burst through the door. Though NLG lawyers arrived on the scene
early, they were not allowed to enter the building and no one in the
building was allowed access to lawyers.
“Here we are in this country trying to fight terrorism,” said one
activist, “and I experience it -- a gun in my face!”
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction: _The Unspeakable and Others_
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Skipper: Professor, will you tell these people who is
in charge on this island?
Professor: Why, no one.
Skipper: No one?
Thurston Howell III: No one? Good heavens, this is anarchy!
-- _Gilligan's Island_, episode #6, "President Gilligan"
Anarcissie
Dan Clore <cl...@columbia-center.org> wrote:
> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>
> http://tinyurl.com/6o4xjp
> Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting
> By Mary Turck , TC Daily Planet
> August 30, 2008
>
> łI heard somebody saying, ŚTheyąre coming, theyąre coming!ą And feet
> pounding on the back stairs, pounding on the door saying they had a
> search warrant. They busted through the door. Theyąve 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.
> ...
This even could be fairly useful, especially if
the sources of the warrant can be tracked down.
Photos and videos of the police raid would also
be interesting and useful. Having a five-year-
old child frightened by armed men breaking down
doors should prove highly enlightening TV fare
for the St. Paul masses.
On the other hand, if the convergence center
were useful _as_such_, it might be better to
leave the doors open and invite the police to
attend the meetings or just hang around. A
supply of doughnuts should be made available
at all times.
Anarcissie
Anarcissie <anarc...@gmail.com> wrote:
Added note: This is amazing. It's not just
the Convergence Center. It's like a thug orgy.
http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6158/breaking-food-not-bombs-house-am
ong-saturday-raids
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/30/police-break-down-doors-n
ight-time-raid-anarchist-meeting.html#comment-35800
http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/26/homeland-insecurity-twin-
cities.html
http://uptake-minnesota.groups.theuptake.org/rss/videogalleryView/id/540/
http://twincities.indymedia.org/
or just search Google News for "st paul police raid convergence center"
Hot stuff.
Dan Clore
> In article <anarcissie-E998E...@reader1.panix.com>,
> Anarcissie <anarc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> In article <48B95925...@columbia-center.org>,
>> Dan Clore <cl...@columbia-center.org> wrote:
>>
>>> News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
>>> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
>>>
>>> http://tinyurl.com/6o4xjp
>>> Police break down doors in night-time raid on anarchist meeting
>>> By Mary Turck , TC Daily Planet
>>> August 30, 2008
>>>
Maybe you can try those links again. Most of them got line breaks in the
middle.
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord Weÿrdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
http://tinyurl.com/292yz9
News & Views for Anarchists & Activists:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo
Strange pleasures are known to him who flaunts the
immarcescible purple of poetry before the color-blind.
-- Clark Ashton Smith, "Epigrams and Apothegms"
Anarcissie
Dan Clore <cl...@columbia-center.org> wrote:
> Anarcissie wrote:
> > Added note: This is amazing. It's not just
> > the Convergence Center. It's like a thug orgy.
> > http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6158/breaking-food-not-bombs-house-am
> > ong-saturday-raids
> > http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/30/police-break-down-doors-n
> > ight-time-raid-anarchist-meeting.html#comment-35800
> > http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/26/homeland-insecurity-twin-
> > cities.html
> > http://uptake-minnesota.groups.theuptake.org/rss/videogalleryView/id/540/
> > http://twincities.indymedia.org/
> >
> > or just search Google News for "st paul police raid convergence center"
> >
> > Hot stuff.
>
> Maybe you can try those links again. Most of them got line breaks in the
> middle.
I suggest using the Google News method. The newsreader
I am using likes to break lines. Google will give you
the latest (until they are ordered otherwise....)
Glenn Greenwald, on Salon, has more stuff:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html
FBI involvement has been observed.
The boss media are lying very, very low on this
one -- I guess they've received their orders.
Anarcissie
Anarcissie <anarc...@gmail.com> wrote:
The raids are starting to hit the MSM:
CNN: Police raid headquarters of RNC protestors
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/30/rnc.protest/index.html
MSNBC: Police target protestors at RNC convention
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26471627/
NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30arrests.html
Local and independent press are buzzing nicely,
regardless.
Dan Clore
> In article <6hud5bF...@mid.individual.net>, Dan Clore
> <cl...@columbia-center.org> wrote:
>> Anarcissie wrote:
>
>>> Added note: This is amazing. It's not just the Convergence
>>> Center. It's like a thug orgy.
>>> http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/6158/breaking-food-not-bombs-house-am
>>> ong-saturday-raids
>>> http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/30/police-break-down-doors-n
>>> ight-time-raid-anarchist-meeting.html#comment-35800
>>> http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/08/26/homeland-insecurity-twin-
>>> cities.html
>>> http://uptake-minnesota.groups.theuptake.org/rss/videogalleryView/id/540/
>>> http://twincities.indymedia.org/
>>>
>>> or just search Google News for "st paul police raid convergence
>>> center"
>>>
>>> Hot stuff.
>> Maybe you can try those links again. Most of them got line breaks
>> in the middle.
>
> I suggest using the Google News method. The newsreader I am using
> likes to break lines.
Maybe you could make tinyurls -- there's an extension for Firefox that
makes it very convenient.
> Google will give you the latest (until they
> are ordered otherwise....)
>
> Glenn Greenwald, on Salon, has more stuff:
> http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/31/raids/index.html
>
> FBI involvement has been observed.
>
> The boss media are lying very, very low on this one -- I guess
> they've received their orders.
--
Dan Clore
My collected fiction, _The Unspeakable and Others_:
http://tinyurl.com/2gcoqt
Lord We˙rdgliffe & Necronomicon Page:
Anarcissie
I think they will let the story come out once they can
lead it with police propaganda. They'll be next. ]
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/09/01/protests/index.html
http://tinyurl.com/6yoa3z
Monday Sept. 1, 2008 19:28 EDT
Scenes from St. Paul -- Democracy Now's Amy Goodman arrested
(updated below - Update II)
Following up on this weekend's extreme raids on various homes, at least
50 people were arrested here today in St. Paul, Minnesota. Beginning
last night, St. Paul was the most militarized I have ever seen an
American city be, even more so than Manhattan in the week of 9/11 --
with troops of federal, state and local law enforcement agents marching
around with riot gear, machine guns, and tear gas cannisters, shouting
military chants and marching in military formations. Humvees and law
enforcement officers with rifles were posted on various buildings and
balconies. Numerous protesters and observers were tear gassed and
injured. I'll have video of the day's events posted shortly.
Perhaps most extraordinarily, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now -- the radio
and TV broadcaster who has been a working journalist for close to 20
years -- was arrested on the street and charged with "conspiracy to
riot." Audio of her arrest, which truly shocked and angered the crowd of
observers, is here.
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/2008/09/01/amy_goodman_arrest.mp3
http://tinyurl.com/6qht79
I just attended a Press Conference with St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and
Police Chief John M. Harrington and -- after they boasted of how
"restrained" their police actions were -- asked about the journalists
and lawyers who had been detained and/or arrested both today and over
the weekend. They said they wouldn't give any information about
journalists who had been arrested today, though they said they believed
that "one journalist" had been, and that she "was sima participant in
the riots, not simply a non-participant." I'll have video of the Press
Conference posted shortly.
UPDATE: Video of my exchange at the Press Conference about the arrested
journalists is here:
http://qik.com/video/257662
Matt Stoller asked a very good question as the last question.
Interestingly, all of the standard journalists asked very
police-sympathetic questions ("how much property damage was done? were
all the criminals part of this same RNC Welcoming Group? How many police
officers were injured (answer: none)), while all of the independent
journalists -- such as those from the superb, intrepid site, The Uptake
-- asked challenging and skeptical (i.e., real) questions.
UPDATE II: Video of Amy Goodman being arrested (video on page)