WTF? Police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis

Well, here again we get to see what the Republicans think of the people’s voice, and what they’ll do to shut it up… What the hell kind of democracy is this? F*ing Obama Bin Laden has won.

Massive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis

Police raid headquarters of RNC protesters

This is really disturbing. The worst hypocrisy: rightwing Americans enjoyed very much decrying the grip the Chinese government had on dissent and dissidents during the Olympics, but are very, very silent about how the United States federal government is directing this harrassment of leftwing Americans who have not even done anything.

This is serious shit that rightwingers cannot and should not ignore. “First they came for the socialists,” and all that.

And here’s my alternative-media heroine Amy Goodman (of that wack-job website from which I post all those articles certain Forumosans wish no one would see) herself getting arrested at the GOP convention, along with her producer and camera-man!

Amy Goodman Arrested at GOP Convention

The first time I read about this was in a pro-China blog. The guy was arguing that why does the West complain about the clampdown on protestots during teh Olympics when they do teh same…

Sigh

The police are now shooting a chemical gas of some sort into the crowd…

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/02/rnc.security/index.html

[quote=“Icon”]The first time I read about this was in a pro-China blog. The guy was arguing that why does the West complain about the clampdown on protestots during teh Olympics when they do teh same…

Sigh[/quote]

_> No surprise. If only they knew the differences between what their own government does to their own protesters and the rest of the world.

Was that intentional?

A lot of preemptive raids. It seems all those wire taps are paying off.

Look at the pictures of the protestors here though. Some of this stuff is far from peaceful. In fact in the last two you see mobs of masked protestors attacking policemen and a delegate.

forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comment … nk=3842809

kxmb.com/News/Nation/270873.asp

[quote]PAUL, Minn. (AP) Protesters attacked delegates, smashed windows, punctured car tires and threw bottles in a violent counterpoint to an otherwise peaceful anti-war march at the Republican National Convention.

Police arrested at least 256 people.

Police estimates of the marchers shifted several times, ranging from 2,000 to 10,000.

St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington says about 180 protesters who weren’t part of the main anti-war march caused the trouble.[/quote]
It reminds of Tony Blair’s comment about violence at EU summits

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/1392004.stm

[quote=“Tony Blair”]"Peaceful protest is an essential part of a democracy, violent protest is not, and has no place in a democracy.

“This effectively is an anarchists’ travelling circus that goes from summit to summit with the sole purpose of causing as much mayhem as possible.”[/quote]

youtube.com/watch?v=Kyvsc1ktgJE
Flower power girl gets sprayed in face.
She was a dangerous hippy.

Was that intentional?[/quote]

I guess so…

I wish someone had maced these people

uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4ssTOGTHb … re=related

From Vay’s Salon link

salon.com/opinion/greenwald/ … ice_raids/

The RNC Welcoming Committe was infiltrated by the police. They discussed kidnapping delegates, “pulling a single officer from a police line and beating him”, tripping police horses with marbles and throwing a balloon filled with a “very dangerous chemical”. Oh, and trying to set the police on fire with Molotov cocktails, but I suppose that is constitutionally protected free speech.

Kidnapping, sabotage was part of anarchists’ plan to disrupt convention

[quote]The affidavit paints a picture of a group that recruited participants from 67 cities and was intent on creating havoc.

According to the document:

• The RNC Welcoming Committee held two “pReNC” gatherings, one from Aug. 31 through Sept. 1, 2007, and another on May 3. At the first, 150 to 200 people — including one of the informants — talked about tactics to “shut down the RNC.” At the second, St. Paul was divided into seven sectors for various anarchist groups to claim.

• The affidavit also talked about an “action camp” held July 31 to Aug. 3 at Lake Geneva, Minn.

• “An individual by the name of ‘Henry’ told the action camp group that he was throwing a liquid-filled balloon and that members of the group should stay away from the area … because it would be very dangerous,” the document said. “Henry stated the balloon was filled with a chemical that would be very dangerous and if caught, he would go to jail for a long time.”

• Another person talked about using large puppets to conceal and transport Molotov cocktails, bricks, caltrops (devices used to stop buses and other vehicles), shields and lockboxes, the affidavit said. They also planned to throw marbles under the horses of the mounted patrol to trip the horses.

• Participants did role playing and attended demonstrations on how to use a large barrel filled with concrete and steel pipes to help protesters block streets.[/quote]
Yup, clearly a peaceful protest group.

[quote]On Tuesday, District Judge Kathleen Gearin denied an emergency motion brought by eight plaintiffs — including at least one of those arrested — to have some of the items seized by police returned to them.

“Who should we return the urine to?” Gearin asked.

In addition to buckets of urine, investigators seized homemade devices used to disable buses and other vehicles, weapons, gas masks, flammable liquids and rags that could be used to make Molotov cocktails, computer storage devices, documents, pamphlets and banners. Some materials, such as banners and signs, were returned Monday for demonstrators to use during the protest marches. Albert Goins Sr., attorney for the plaintiffs, said they are likely to file an emergency appeal to get the rest of it back.[/quote]
This shows the state of the justice system in Bush’s fascist America - how can they protest peacefully with just banners and signs? They clearly need their Molotov cocktails, balloons full of dangerous chemicals, bricks, caltrops, marbles and buckets of urine back!

The police are just taking the piss.

Step number six in the shift from democracy to fascist state: Infiltrate citizens groups.

What’s step 1? Sending gangs of thugs to break up your opponents’ political meetings and beat up the police? Pacifist and anti authoritarian my ass, these people are brownshirts.

/Since accusations of fascism seem to be de rigueur round here.
//Mind you if anarchy is a necessary transition state between democracy and fascism, anarchists are in Orwell’s phrase ‘objectively pro fascist’.

Does that include the mob?