Republican National Convention coverage
By Carlos Miller
Minneapolis-St. Paul police have been raiding homes of people who plan to protest and document the upcoming Republican National Convention, confiscating cameras and laptops and arresting five people on “conspiracy to riot” charges.
One of the homes raided was the headquarters of Food Not Bombs, an international antiwar organization known to provide food for the homeless.
But police were mainly interested in the “RNC Welcoming Committee”, a self-described anarchist group that vowed on its Website it was going to “crash the convention”.
Police say they confiscated weapons, explosives and ingredients to make Molotov cocktails and disrupt buses.
The RNC Welcoming Committee said that police also confiscated “computers, boxes of protest literature, maps, cell phones, digital cameras, a video camera, the landlord’s pvc piping, and poster making supplies.”
The group posted a video today vowing they will protest the convention as planned.
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Fernandez, as I mentioned in a
14 responses so far ↓
1 genewitch // Aug 30, 2008 at 9:18 pm
wow, fuck the constitution, huh?
GG, USA. GG.
2 jbenson2 // Aug 30, 2008 at 10:09 pm
What a biased article.
Here are a few of the weapons seized.
a dizzying array of items, including a machete, a hatchet, throwing knives, axes, bolt cutters, equipment used in rappelling – and three 5-gallon buckets of urine.
In Denver - They also use buckets of urine and feces and various noxious substances to pour the police” — most likely the reason why local authorities seized three 5-gallon buckets of urine on Saturday. (Anarchists in other locations have also filled squirt guns with urine in advance of demonstrations.)
3 Scott // Aug 31, 2008 at 12:29 am
You know the last time I checked, the law in none of the states in this country prohibits the owning of any of those items. The urine is rather disturbing, but you know they could just be hippie satanists. Or something. Just owning an object is not grounds for any charge including intention to incite a riot, or conspiracy.
4 Scott // Aug 31, 2008 at 12:31 am
Oh and one more thing. Don’t blame it on anarchists. It’s not all our fault. I mean, I’m an anarchist, (Technically I’m a theoretical anarcho-capitalist), and I’ve never even been to a protest.
5 genewitch // Aug 31, 2008 at 3:49 am
jbenson: i own or have access to every item you mentioned. should the police bust into my house and arrest me and seize my equipment?
You’re the reason people want anarchy.
6 Scott // Aug 31, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Ummmm genewitch, I hesitate to ask, but why do you have a 5 gallon bucket of urine?
7 genewitch // Aug 31, 2008 at 2:35 pm
It’s those blasted gophers, i tell you! Ruining my flower garden at every turn!
8 enhager // Sep 1, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Automatic assault rifle protected under the Republicans’ interpretation of the constitution. A machete, a hatchet, throwing knives, axes, bolt cutters, equipment used in rappelling - not protected?
9 pdxSean // Sep 1, 2008 at 9:39 pm
All I can say is, thank goodness they seized that poster-making equipment.
I love the “guilty before charged” feel of some of the comments here. Thank goodness we have those psychic cops who can stop crimes before they happen!
10 Scott // Sep 2, 2008 at 12:00 am
Wasn’t there a movie about that? Entrapment or something?
11 Tryin' to understand // Sep 2, 2008 at 11:03 am
Is spraying 80 year old conventioneers in the face with bleach a lot of fun? What about throwing bags of cement from overpasses onto buses full of regular folks? I don’t get it.
Is there a special hatred toward Republicans vs. Democrats. If so, why?
12 enhager // Sep 2, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Not about Dems vs. Reps. It’s about freedom vs. fascism. there was just as much criticism about the dem convention antics.
13 gunhaver // Sep 2, 2008 at 3:05 pm
‘Automatic assault rifle’ — strictly speaking it almost certainly wasn’t automatic, probably semi-auto and “assault rifle” is one of the stupidest terms in common use today, nearly all definitions include cosmetic constraints that have no actual impact on the weapon’s lethality (e.g. pistol grip stocks)
and for what it’s worth, I’m a bit disturbed by the seizures; I hope there was much more evidence collected beforehand to warrant the raids.
14 crs52 // Sep 5, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Isn’t Sara Palin a dedicated member of the NRA? Don’t they believe that people have a right to any of those things? I don’t see how you can have it both ways.
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