4um: Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis

[updated below (with video) - Update II - Update III - Update IV]

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning -- one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a "hippie house," where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with "peaceful kids" who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.

In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as "Do you have Terminator ready?" as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.

Several of those who were arrested are being represented by Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers' Guild. Nestor said that last night's raid involved a meeting of a group calling itself the "RNC Welcoming Committee", and that this morning's raids appeared to target members of "Food Not Bombs," which he described as an anti-war, anti-authoritarian protest group. There was not a single act of violence or illegality that has taken place, Nestor said. Instead, the raids were purely anticipatory in nature, and clearly designed to frighten people contemplating taking part in any unauthorized protests.

Nestor indicated that only 2 or 3 of the 50 individuals who were handcuffed this morning at the 2 houses were actually arrested and charged with a crime, and the crime they were charged with is "conspiracy to commit riot." Nestor, who has practiced law in Minnesota for many years, said that he had never before heard of that statute being used for anything, and that its parameters are so self-evidently vague, designed to allow pre-emeptive arrests of those who are peacefully protesting, that it is almost certainly unconstitutional, though because it had never been invoked (until now), its constitutionality had not been tested.

There is clearly an intent on the part of law enforcement authorities here to engage in extreme and highly intimidating raids against those who are planning to protest the Convention. The DNC in Denver was the site of several quite ugly incidents where law enforcement acted on behalf of Democratic Party officials and the corporate elite that funded the Convention to keep the media and protesters from doing anything remotely off-script. But the massive and plainly excessive preemptive police raids in Minnesota are of a different order altogether. Targeting people with automatic-weapons-carrying SWAT teams and mass raids in their homes, who are suspected of nothing more than planning dissident political protests at a political convention and who have engaged in no illegal activity whatsoever, is about as redolent of the worst tactics of a police state as can be imagined.

UPDATE: Here is the first of the videos, from the house that had just been raided:

Jane Hamsher has more here, and The Minnesota Independent has a report on another one of the raided houses, here.

UPDATE II: Here is the video we took from the second house as the raid was occurring. We were barred from entering but spoke with neighbors outside as well as with Bruce Nestor, the President of the Minnesota Lawyer's Guild, regarding these raids:

Over at FDL, Lindsay Beyerstein spoke with the property owner whose house -- the fourth one we now know of -- was being raided while the raid was in progress, and Lindsay has details here ("About an hour and a half ago 20 to 30 heavily armed police officers surrounded the house. One of my roommates said 'I want to see a warrant' and she was immediately detained"). Meanwhile, Indy Media of Twin Cities -- an association of independent journalists in the area -- just told me that several of their journalists have been detained while trying to cover these raids. Their site, with ongoing updates, is here.

The Uptake also has several reports of the various raids, including video of the raid at the property whose owner Bernstein spoke with as the raid occurred. That video includes an interview with a lawyer from the National Lawyer's Guild who was detained and put in handcufffs, explaining that the surrounded house is one where various journalists are staying. Additionally, a photojournalist with Democracy Now was detained at that house as well. So, both journalists and lawyers -- in addition to protesters -- have been detained and arrested even though not a single violent or criminal act has occurred.

UPDATE III: FDL has the transcript of part of my discussion about these raids with the National Lawyer Guild's Minnesota President -- here.

The Uptake has this amazing video interview with the Democracy Now producer who was detained today. As the DN producer explains, she was present at a meeting of a group called "I-Witness" -- which videotaped police behavior at the 2004 GOP Convention in New York and helped get charges dismissed against hundreds of protesters who were arrested. The police surrounded the St. Paul house where they were meeting even though they had no warrant, told them that anyone who exited the house would be arrested, and then -- even though they finally, after several hours, obtained a warrant only for the house next door -- basically broke into the house, pointed weapons at everyone inside, handcuffed them, searched the house, and then left. Here is a blog post from one of the members of I-Witness asking for help during the time when they were forced to stay inside the house (see the second post -- it reads like a note from a hostage crying out for help). This is truly repugnant, extreme police behavior designed to intimidate protesters, police critics and others, and it ought to infuriate anyone and everyone who cares about basic liberties.

UPDATE IV: More here, including on the Federal Government's role in these raids.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

The Kent State massacre and the National Guard marching down Grove Street in Berkley woke up (many of )the sheeple then.

This is not the country bequeathed by Washington, Jefferson, and Monroe. This is a Police State with corrupt thugs with badges run amok.

"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken

I've watched several videos, including a recording of a live upload by "The Uptake," and I must say that the precautionary "conspiracy to riot" charges represent a clarion call.

Anyone who stands for freedom of expression in our country, and can afford it, should to travel to Minneapolis to join the protests.

These are lefties to be sure, but when their liberties are threatened, so are ours. In fact, ours are more seriously threatened, because these youths are calling for more "pluralism" and we (for the most part) are calling for less. The oppression of these youths is a practice run for what they plan for us.

And when they come for us, the whole nation will be told that we are the enemies of the Republic, and the public will believe every word of it.

SO WAS THE LITTLE viewed post of the 17 and 15 yr old girls getting roughed up and busted by police for using child sidewalk chalk at the convention for which they had avdvance permission

"Corporation: An entity created for the legal protection of its human parasites, whose sole purpose is profit and self-perpetuation." © IndieTx

Democratic National Convention 2000

Something that occurs to me, no way to check it out, but as it was here in Portland during the anti-Iraq War protests I'd bet that a lot of these Denver Cops are NOT. Meaning that the forces put into play here, by hiding them in the black thug uniforms, were not Denver PD but some other agency/Black-op Group inserted in under cover. We were never able to prove it but the circumstantial evidence here strongly suggests it. The local Petty Tyrant was not willing to identify who exactly was involved in the Thugocratic actions taken against the protesters.

"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken

Thanks for hitting the post button here. Why isn't this thread getting more bumps?

I suspect because people are so appalled at this open Police State action that they don't know what to say.

I do hope the people roughed up by the thugs with badges sue the city into near bankruptcy. These were clearly criminal actions by the thugs with badges and it needs to be stopped and punished.

"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken

Haven't we been hearing how hypocritical the Democrats were for their treatment of protesters at Staples Center in 2000, now for eight years? Republicans should be speaking up against this, but they won't. These thugs are protecting both wings of the uniparty dodo-bird.

The easiest way for either party to handle this would be to send out emissaries to negotiate with the groups protesting. They just want it to go away so that JoeSix Pack doesn't even find out that anyone was unhappy.

That would be bad for the PsyOps regimen. The whole point of massive over reaction is to cower people and keep the less bold from joining in the protests. It is a control mechanism to herd the Sheeple without their realizing they are being manipulated. The intention IS intimidation.

"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken

Secret Police Monitoring Protests

Probably, but since they do not protest, not a problem. The problems generally start when the people of the police state start to believe that the Witnesses should join in all of the non-sense that the people are involved in/participating in.

When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest. ++++++++++ Attention, Shrub; A life of evil is ultimately a life of wretchedness.

i was there! i had an indy radio show at the time and i had been at the lakers championship game also at staples, a few months earlier in june 2000 and witnessed firsthand the KOOK lapd pigs literally start the 'riot' that immediately followed the laker championship. the crowd was completely happy calm and jovial before the pigs started a riot. i never would have believed it if i hadnt been in the middle of it. i stil have the audio. so, for the convention, i was ready for anything., i left right before the riots when rage was playing because i saw what was going to happen. on my drive home directly after i left, it was on the radio news, mass crowds being sprayed with pepper spray and tazed, and trampled and beat.

at the laker game the kook pigs made us go closer to the burning cbs2 newsvan. they corraled us like dogs, making us go closer towards it. it was quite scary. the next day i called and interviewed the watch commander and asked him why the cops made us do that and he said no, we were free to leave at any time. then i played the audio of the pigs telling me "THATS THE WAY YOU (sic) GOING!!!" after i told him 'officer i am not moving closer towards that burning newsvan!" the pigs name was officer johnson, i read his name tag as he shouted at me and he repeated it for me, "yes, officer johnson"., a black man.

MY REPLY TO ZEITGEIST: 1John Chapter 2: "21 I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you do, and because every lie is alien to the truth. 22 Who is the liar? Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Whoever denies the Father and the Son, this is the antichrist."
"I don't know where Bin Laden is. I truly am not that concerned about him"
George W, Bush, 3/13/02 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

What do you think of the Ron Paul exhortations to avoid disrupting the convention this week? On principle I agree with him that their separate venue actually benefits freedom of speech for both groups, the RNC faithful and the Campaign for Liberty (C4L) types. In practice, I think Americans need to see the cold hard facts regarding their "grand old patriotic party," and its own hate for freedom of speech.

As the C4L passively meets to rally with Ron Paul, the lefties may be against the barricades, getting hit with the truncheons, rubber bullets, and teargas. Will Americans remember that the Ron Paul supporters maintained their decorum?

i hadnt heard about that, .. and not sure what it means. does it imply that protesting would be 'disruptive'? i say more power to the protesters. Paul strikes me as a very passive man which is not really my style. maybe it's his age,. whatever, to each their own.

He implied it in his speech in DC on July 12th, that we would have our own event, separate, and maintain decorum or something like that. I think the protests are essential. I don't want to see anyone hurt or property harmed, but people should gather together and make as much noise as they can in protest of the RNC's impenetrable, invisible, special-interest owned system for choosing nominees.

"The difference between an honorable man and a moral man is that an honorable man regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked and he is in no danger of being caught." ~ H. L. Mencken