PROTEST

Security Officials Gear Up For Intense Protests

Anti-Iraq War Rally Kicks Off Week Of Protests Projected To Be Bigger Than Denver's

by Kevin Friedl

Monday, Sept. 1, 2008


The convention is only just beginning, but already it promises to present law enforcement officials with bigger challenges than they faced during the Democratic gathering in Denver, where protests were smaller and calmer than expected.

This morning, demonstrators will gather in front of the state Capitol in St. Paul for the largest protest of the week, a rally against the Iraq war. Around 1 p.m., marchers will start along a 1.6-mile route winding toward the Xcel Energy Center, eventually ending up in a police-designated "public viewing area" directly across the street from the arena and within eye- and earshot of arriving delegates. The permit to parade extends until 4 p.m.

Steff Yorek, a spokeswoman for the group organizing the rally, estimated that 50,000 people would come out for the protest. Even if actual turnout is lower, all indications are that the event will be larger than anything Denver dealt with last week. St. Paul Assistant Police Chief Matt Bostrom said that the city is prepared to handle crowds of up to 100,000, although he didn't expect that many to come.

Organizers said that the march would go forward despite the scaling back of today's official convention activities because of Hurricane Gustav. "Our plans are still to go ahead," said Meredith Aby of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. "The war in Iraq certainly isn't slowing down, which is the point of the demonstration. We don't have the same media problem the GOP does: It looks bad for them to be partying, but it doesn't look bad for us to promote human rights."

One thing making security officials' jobs slightly easier was Sunday's announcement that President Bush and Vice President Cheney would no longer be speaking from the convention hall. Instead of coming to St. Paul -- and bringing with them heightened security requirements -- Bush and Cheney will be monitoring Gustav.

Security efforts here have so far proved more aggressive than they were in Denver. In the week before the GOP convention began, local media carried reports of photographers being handcuffed and detained for taking pictures near the convention site. On Thursday, two anti-poverty protesters were arrested on Harriet Island while attempting to set up an encampment. (Police said they were "educating" people about local ordinances prohibiting camping in the park.)

Over the weekend, local law enforcement officials launched a crackdown on one group that has touted its plans to disrupt the convention. In a series of raids across the Twin Cities area, police obtained search warrants to enter several homes and the meeting center of an anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee. Police arrested six people on various conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to riot, and seized materials they said could be used to disable buses and block intersections.

At a press conference on Sunday, Bostrom used a comparison to explain why police raided the homes. "If we found a meth lab, what does that do to improve a community? It makes it safer," he said. "Maybe there aren't a lot of weapons there, but there are a lot of dangerous chemicals and activities associated with that."

That sort of talk outrages members of the Welcoming Committee and other protest groups, who contend they intend to protest legally. Jordan Kushner, a local lawyer who works with the National Lawyers Guild, said that the weekend arrestees could potentially be held until Wednesday. "What they're doing is trying to disable people from being able to participate in protests at the convention," he said.

Organizers of the march -- which the anarchist group will attend but had no role in coordinating -- said that their plans remain unaffected by the police raids. And, despite the rocky start, demonstrators and police alike said they aren't expecting any more trouble today. "It's a permitted march; we have a legal right to do it," said Lisa Fithian, an organizer working with the Welcoming Committee. "We hope there won't be any more arrests."

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