RNC
Attorneys for Minnesota Nine call criminal charges ‘outrageous’
In the days leading up to the Republican National Convention, a series of police raids led by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the arrest of eight people for allegedly conspiring to disrupt the political gathering. On Wednesday the individuals were each charged with a single count of “conspiracy to commit riot in the [...]
RNC in review: A great photo essay by Mike Dvorak
Local photojournalist Mike Dvorak was out on the streets for MnIndy on Monday. Because we were featuring a lot of news photos and galleries that day, we decided to hold this collection of 42 images and showcase it today as part of our RNC week wrap-up.
Anti-Flag Q&A: Police at Ripple Effect “dangerous”
Radical punk band Anti-Flag headlined the Ripple Effect Tuesday at the St. Paul Capitol Grounds, where Rage Against the Machine were physically barred by police from taking the stage to perform a surprise set. Rage performed two songs on a megaphone out in the audience, and much of the crowd turned around to march on [...]
Ron Paul versus the Red Baron
It’s not the Ron Paul blimp, but a plane pulling a Ron Paul Revolution banner has been flying over downtown Minneapolis this week — sharing airspace Thursday with a hovering helicopter, presumably security (but not black!), perhaps rooting out stray Rage fans. Makes you wonder who would have won had the Republican nomination battle been [...]
Fox talk of pols’ drug use leaves Norm speechless
Norm Coleman was having a rollicking good time between RNC floor speeches Wednesday night with Fox’s Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes — bragging about dropping the Xcel’s first puck and tearing into the Dems — until talk turned to Sarah Palin’s husband’s 1986 DUI. That’s when Hannity launched on pols like Sen. Barack Obama whose [...]
Cops came from Philly to learn to deal with nice people
“We’re here to learn how to deal with nice people.”
That’s what one of the 29 police officers the city of Philadelphia sent to St. Paul for the RNC told me Wednesday evening. He and a partner were spending the week with a squad car parked on the grass at the south end of the John [...]
‘If you are on this bridge you are under arrest’
I was going to call it a night. After nearly three hours of observing the cat-and-mouse game between protesters and police the scene was starting to get tiresome. (Best protester chant of the night: “You’re hot, you’re cute, now take off you’re riot suit.”)
The legacy continues: ‘Proud Bush-McCain Republicans’ interviewed at RNC
It’s hard to tell if this video by Blip.tv user “George McCain” is for or against John McCain. At the Republican National Convention this week, campaigners passed out stickers that read “Proud Bush-McCain Republican” to delegates — including an apparently flummoxed Sen. Norm Coleman — on why they’re proud to wear it. Is it campaigning or culture-jamming?
Liveblog: RNC march turns ugly as police use teargas, detain journalists
Jeff Severns Guntzel, now on the State Capitol grounds, calls in with this report of a clash between police and protesters near the State Capitol. Click for ongoing updates.
Defiance of arbitrary authority sans painful consequences: Cops, Rage and Target Center
“We want tits! We want tits!” came the chant from the floor before last night’s Rage Against the Machine concert at the Target Center. While Funk the War and other groups gave out radical literature from tables in the halls, young men voiced their simpler demand inside, and a young woman in the stands obliged them, as well as the rows behind her and to her right. Like any rock crowd, the Rage audience can quickly become the Jerry Springer audience. Yet some of the band’s appeal lies in the promise that this equation works in reverse.
It wasn’t long before the nearly sold-out crowd was cheering those about to hop the barrier to the floor, a bit of authority-bucking that swelled the mosh pits. And when a female fan flashed openers Anti-Flag, bassist Chris #2 stopped the music to quip that there was probably a Blink-182 show down the street for that kind of thing.