Antiwar Protesters March at RNC Inspire of Police Intimidation

by Richard Cole / September 2008

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 2—Thousands of antiwar demonstrators marched and rallied here on Labor Day, Sept. 1, the first day of the Republican National Convention. The demonstrators rallied against the Iraq War at the state capitol grounds and then marched through downtown St. Paul.

The march organizers went to great lengths to hold a peaceful, legal mass demonstration, centered on the demand "U.S. Out of Iraq: Money for Human Needs, Not for War," which was emblazoned on the lead banner. This demand was coupled with the slogans "Bring the Troops Home Now!" and "Out Now!"

Hundreds of riot police in Darth Vader gear were deployed at intersections along the route of the main, peaceful march. Later, the police, aided by Minnesota National Guard troops, brutally attacked smaller groups of demonstrators—using tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray. Over 300 protesters were arrested; authorities said that 119 faced possible felony charges.

(As we go to press, Sept. 2, police in riot gear and on horseback have attacked and gassed a Stop the War on the Poor march and rally in St. Paul. Several have been arrested.)

The major Labor Day march was organized in most key aspects by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. Among the main leaders were activists from AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers union at the University of Minnesota. These union leaders had substantial experience in the two strikes Local 3800 organized at the university in 2003 and 2007.

Around 100 Veterans for Peace members made up the lead contingent. They included a number of Iraq War veterans, some in wheelchairs, and were followed by a Military Families Speak Out contingent.

This was followed by an immigrants' rights contingent (mostly Latinos), a Palestinian contingent, a Hmong contingent, and a Somali contingent of about 100 from the Minneapolis Somali/Oromo community, which is the largest in the country. Their slogans centered on demanding an end to U.S. support to the Ethiopian attack on Somalia, as well as against the Iraq war.

According to the official counter appointed by the organizers of the march, about 10,000 demonstrators took part, which coincided with the police and media count. This seemed fairly accurate, though a few thousand more people possibly were not counted. The overwhelming majority of the participants were from the Minnesota and Western Wisconsin region, with perhaps close to a thousand people coming from other areas of the country, including the two coasts.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800 and an official from Teamsters Local 743 spoke at the rally. Relatively few demonstrators wore Obama t-shirts or held Obama signs. Young people predominated in the march.

Several thousand also attended a Labor Day rock/hip hop concert at a city park just outside of downtown St. Paul (across the river) called "Take Back Labor Day." The SEIU organized the event, on which they obviously spent a considerable sum of money for well-known bands and entertainers, such as Billy Bragg and Mos Def. They charged $10 admission. John Edwards was originally supposed to speak there before his sex scandal surfaced.

In addition, the Minnesota State Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, for the second year, participated in a small march around the State Fair Grounds (not a labor march) on Labor Day, which was the last day of the 10-day Minnesota State Fair. The St Paul central labor body has not held a Labor Day picnic in the last two years. Even though the St. Paul Labor Center stands directly across from the Convention Center with in a distance of little more than a block, and with a four story blank wall. Yet not one banner or sign was displayed. Inside, space was granted to the "Obama Instant Response Center" to crank out the Democratic Party’s propaganda to the media.

The huge police presence here was entirely federalized. One person I spoke to had encountered a Philadelphia cop in the vicinity of the march assembly area and asked him what he was doing out of his local jurisdiction. "Homeland Security" was the answer.

The on-the-street suspension of constitutional rights of free expression and protection against search and seizure were obvious. "Democracy Now!" host Amy Goodman was detained by police while protesting the seizure and arrest of two of her radio program’s producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, on "suspicion of rioting" charges.

Several residences were raided on the eve of the RNC convention, their unifying characteristic apparently being that out-of-state protesters were staying there—though in one case, it was merely independent media people.

The "Convergence Center," a converted movie theater in St. Paul set up as a drop-in place for RNC protesters, was raided and vandalized by police on Aug. 29. Dozens of people who were meeting or watching films at the center were handcuffed, photographed, and required to show ID or be taken to jail.

The police actions in St. Paul provide an enlightening peek behind the curtain of the federalized police-state apparatus, both human and technological, being assembled under the authority and direction of Homeland Security. It is important to protest their trampling of civil liberties. We must demand that all the jailed protesters be released immediately, and all charges against them dropped.