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From Today's Democracy Now! show:
AMY GOODMAN: Police in St. Paul are being accused of continuing to intimidate a group a video makers that traveled to the Twin Cities to document police misconduct during the Republican National Convention.
On Saturday, police raided a home where members of I-Witness Video collective were staying. Members of the group were detained for over two hours. We talked about that on Monday.
Well, yesterday, police armed with batons and battering ram entered a St. Paul office building that housed the offices of I-Witness Video. Police claimed they were investigating reports of anarchists holding hostages in the building. Members of I-Witness Video accuse the police of blatant harassment and of using the bogus hostage claim to seek entry to their office.
Even the Associated Press joins Democracy Now! in having a journalist illegally detained.
Protesters have had to go to court to try to get the police and sheriffs to stop stealing video cameras and cellphones which can be used to document police abuses. These actions demonstrated intent by local "law enforcement" to break the law.
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press 8/31/08:
Two organizations said today they filed an emergency motion with the court Saturday to try to prevent police from seizing video equipment and cell phones used to document officers' conduct.
The move came after the Ramsey County sheriff's office raided on Friday night a center used by protest groups in St. Paul, and three Minneapolis homes Saturday. Five people were arrested. Sheriff Bob Fletcher said they are key leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist group.
The National Lawyers Guild and Communities United Against Police Brutality filed the motion late Saturday, according to a press release.
The release said "examples of police interference with the right to document their conduct" included seizure of equipment in Minneapolis from three journalists with Glass Bead Collective and targeting of journalists during a raid in St. Paul on Saturday.
The National Lawyers Guild has been active in opposing these attacks on our constitutional rights, as can be seen in two recent press releases.
8/31/08
National Lawyers Guild Seeks Judicial Review of Preventative Detentions Ordered by Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher
8/30/08
National Lawyers Guild Condemns Fabrications of Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher and Preventative Detention Arrests
The array of human rights violations in Minnesota this week is disgusting. Although the Republican Sheriff of Ramsey County has been the instigator, Democratic politicians in the area have been way too willing to go along with these attacks on our constitution.
Some missed the same types of violations during the DNC Libhomo.
The BushCo courts will probably give this shit a free pass under the guise of National Security..their favorite battlecry.
The defening silence from corporate media on this should be more than enough to prove the non-existance of the big, bad liberal media.
That won't stop the Reich from whining about the media being against them, though.
Like they are saying, it's not about the issues.
Dusty: There certainly were human rights violations during the DNC. However, the unconstitutional behavior and brutality exhibited during the RNC has been on a much grander scale.
dave: You bring up a good point about the corporate media. The "liberal media" talking point is meant to inoculate rightist followers from any information that manages to get through corporate censorship which challenges rightist ideology.
This is bullshit! I only heard about this yesterday via the underground.
I say we take to arms. Fuck peaceful protesting. Let's kill some fascists and re-establish our freedom!