Amy Goodman on Why We Were Falsely Arrested at TruthDig.

Behind all the patriotic hyperbole that accompanies the conventions, and the thousands of journalists and media workers who arrive to cover the staged events, there are serious violations of the basic right of freedom of the press. Here on the streets of St. Paul, the press is free to report on the official proceedings of the RNC, but not to report on the police violence and mass arrests directed at those who have come to petition their government, to protest.

The attack on and arrest of me and the “Democracy Now!” producers was not an isolated event. A video group called I-Witness Video was raided two days earlier. Another video documentary group, the Glass Bead Collective, was detained, with its computers and video cameras confiscated. On Wednesday, I-Witness Video was again raided, forced out of its office location. When I asked St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington how reporters are to operate in this atmosphere, he suggested, “By embedding reporters in our mobile field force.”

MinnPost:
AP photographers last pre-arrest shot is a stunner
How to cover a riot
Street Scenes: a march through St. Paul's concrete wilderness

Minnesota Independent:
MnIndy video: unmarked police snatch protesters near McCain bus, GOP delegate cries foul
Four members of CodePink arrested
RNC Day 2 Diary (Part II): Armies of the Night Includes photos of riot squads in front of the landmark Mickey’s Diner, which also appears at the end of the Prairie Home Companion movie. Not something I ever hoped to see.
Detained at gunpoint, peace activists on federal watch list are released without charge
Prosecutors detail protest charges
RNC t-shirt peddler: “I’m not selling anything. It’s a dead zone”
Jacques, the feel-good protest pooch. Pictures of this cutie have been everywhere.

Campaign Silo:
Eight RNC protesters face state terrorism charges ”Law enforcement... allege(s) that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with firebombs and explosives, and sabotage airports in St. Paul.”
Activist groups deplore police brutality during RNC
Police gas docile crowd at RNC

The UpTake:
RNC Day 1: Mostly Peaceful
Noah detained by police
Noah explaining how police rushed him
Noah after being detained by cops
Protesters speak of nonviolence
Arrests during the protests
RNC march led by police vehicles
Chopper chasing
RNC day 2: police in riot gear
Protesters call for unity

Aaron Landry offers a remarkably balanced report on his experience downtown
Momo offers a short breakdown of why this looks more like a top-down Federal initiative all the time

Aaaand: Rage Against the Machine performing a cappella after their concert was shut down by police. Brought a tear to my eye, it did.

Tags: rnc, rncprotests, stpaul