Yesterday’s 5pm broadcast on WCCO reported on the official version of what happened downtown during the RNC:
Police Chief John Harrington said the 3,700 officers who worked the event showed patience and moved in when they had to. He said they focused on people they expected to cross the line into property damage or violence, and tried to contain other protesters without trampling on their free speech rights.
“Nothing burned in downtown St. Paul” Harrington said. “No one was injured in downtown St. Paul. With the exception of one or two windows, downtown St. Paul remained open for business.”
WCCO was not critical of this comment on the broadcast, although the text story on their site, titled Some Question Police After 800 Arrests at RNC, is much more balanced. Still, no criticism on the air? This is the same station that posted this raw footage of one of their own guys getting arrested and this raw footage of police firing gas into the crowds? Surely we're still all writing from the same town where Fox News gleefully captured video of the Macy’s display windows being smashed, a police car with a smashed windshield, a protester trampled by a police horse, and bus benches being dragged into the street and dismantled for use in barricades? The same town where citizen media reported on 17 year olds with boot prints on their backs and doctors blog about detainees who were coughing up blood being further doused with chemical irritants and then tied to a restraint chair because they demanded food?
The reports are such that Amnesty International is calling for investigation into the use of excessive force and maltreatment of prisoners, which alleges “some of the police actions appear to have breached United Nations (U.N.) standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials.”
Certainly, everyone is reporting from their own subjective viewpoint, but there’s quite a gap between “ balanced response with no injuries” and “breaching UN standards on the use of force.“ Everywhere, people are trying to sort out exactly what happened.
The Star Tribune has reported that before the convention began the GOP took out $10 million in insurance on “damages and unlimited legal costs for law enforcement officials accused of brutality, violating civil rights and other misconduct. Other cities who hosted conventions in recent years — including Denver, Boston, New York and Philadelphia — either covered those costs from their general budgets or used tax money to buy insurance policies.” Consequently, the St. Paul Police Department will suffer little or no monetary consequences from the forthcoming brutality lawsuits.
MPR:
A view of a protest:
The police had their version of events. In a complaint they said the confrontation began after officers told protesters not to advance. The complaint said protesters not only moved forward, but they hurled rocks, chunks of blacktop, fireworks, plastic bottles filled with an "unknown liquid" and a white bag with what appeared to be "fecal matter."
That's not what I saw from where I stood -- about an arms-length from the protesters and more than a car lane away from police. I saw no rocks. No fireworks. No bottles or bags filled with feces. The way I saw it, the police fired the first shot, and I never heard a warning.
Minnesota Independent:
Minneapolis council members call for investigation of RNC police
Scenes from a Protest: on RNCs last night, a march to nowhere. Offers a chronology of exactly what happened during the march that culminated in mass arrests of everyone on the bridge.
Attorneys for Minnesota Nine call criminal charges outrageous
MinnPost:
Depite more than 800 arrests, St. Paul Police and mayor call convention a big success
RNC Glean: McCain’s change and journalists detained. Counts a total of 14 journalists detained:
The City Pages crew was maced. Minnesota Indepedent's Paul Demko — who was just trying to get a beer — details his flexicuff experience here. A KARE cameraman was pinched; over the arrestee's narration, correspondent Boyd Huppert intones, "Tonight, police set the limits for freedom of press, speech and assembly, leaving the courts to take it from here." An Uptake videographer was also arrested. Fox9's Tom Lyden calls it "a theater of the politically absurd."
Click through for links to each account.
Twin Cities Daily Planet:
The night I got arrested
Press freedom at issue after RNC. “On the morning after arrests of more than a dozen journalists, journalists and advocates for freedom of the press delivered a strong rebuke and call for action to city officials in St. Paul. Twin Cities Media Alliance organizer Nancy Doyle delivered a letter with more than 50,000 signatures to St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, Minneapolis City Attorney John Choi, and Hennepin County Attorney Susan Gaertner’s offices.”
The UpTake:
Detainee alleges torture in Ramsey County jail
Political activists say they are not terrorists
Bridge blockade at the RNC
Firedoglake:
Street debacle in St. Paul: the return of Sideshow Bob links to msm reports on discrepancies in the handling of St. Paul arrestees as opposed to those cited in Minneapolis — especially the typical bail, which was set at the maximum for gross misdemeanor.
