Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune: Police raids enrage activists

Police raids enrage activists, alarm others

By HERON MARQUEZ ESTRADA, BILL M c AULIFFE and ABBY SIMONS

August 31, 2008

Aided by informants planted in protest groups, authorities raided at least six buildings across St. Paul and Minneapolis to stop an "anarchist" plan to disrupt this week's Republican National Convention.

From Friday night through Saturday afternoon, officers surrounded houses, broke down doors, handcuffed scores of people and confiscated suspected tools of civil disobedience.

The show of force was led by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office in collaboration with the FBI, Minneapolis and St. Paul police, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and other agencies.

But a St. Paul City Council member described it as excessive, while activists, many of whom were detained and then released without charges, called it intimidation designed to quash free speech.

At least five suspected leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described anarchist group, were taken to the Hennepin County jail, and another was being sought, said Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher.

On Saturday afternoon, he displayed a number of the confiscated items: a gun, throwing knives, a bow and arrows, flammable liquids, paint, slingshots, rocks and buckets of urine.

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"This is not the way to start things off," St. Paul City Council Member Dave Thune said Saturday morning. "This is sending the wrong message. Regardless of how you feel about these people ... they had a right to be there."

[…]

Fletcher said the RNC Welcoming Committee is "a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists ... intent on committing criminal acts before and during the Republican National Convention.

"These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers," Fletcher said.

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20080831 Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune: Police raids enrage activists