Held at pepper-spray-point during Republican National Convention, Rage Against the Machine aftermath

Oh. Man.

I almost got arrested tonight while on assignment covering RNC-related protestors. I had to kneel in the middle of the street with my hands on my head and a pepper spray gun trained pretty much directly on me. I then had to beg my way out of a mass arrest that netted 30 others. I'm glad I didn't have to spend the night in jail, but it all worked out swimmingly given that I have such a beautiful and trustworthy smile... :)

Last night it was tear gas (which hurts like a mother f%^ker!) that got ignited a few feet behind me while I was covering a protest march. Tonight, the "on your knees! hands on head!" treatment. I hate to say it, but the kookiness of the RNC has actually been kinda fun....

Covering the protests and security skirmishes surrounding the Republican National Convention is a bit like being a kid in Disney Land trying to chase a paper airplane that keeps flying away.

You almost catch up to the airplane, but a giant spectacle or security roadblock of some sort gets in your way, and you end up detouring in and out and under novelties of all strange shapes and sizes to get back to where you wanted to go. Only by that time, the paper airplane has flown somewhere else.

Tonight the airplane I was assigned to chase was not in St. Paul but in Minneapolis. A bunch of us reporters were told to be ready for possible confrontation between police and the self-described anarchists coming into and / or out of the "Rage Against the Machine" concert at the Target Center in the bar / club district of downtown Minneapolis. I got there at 6:30 p.m. and waited and waited and waited; nothing happened until nearly midnight.

When the concert let out around 10:30 p.m., a fair number of drunk hooligans blocked First Avenue outside the performance center, trying to excite the crowd. Police had been waiting in droves for such an occurrence; they lined the sidewalk of First Avenue in large numbers and blocked off the avenue across 6th Street and 7th Street in even larger numbers, with helmeted cops on horses, bike cops, SWAT, and all kinds of vehicles. We're talking dozens, if not hundreds of officers armed with large wooden sticks, pepper spray and more.

After more than an hour, and several rebellious chants of "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me," the 6th Street crowd eventually dispersed with only one arrest. The 7th Street side was more heavily saturated with anarchists, as opposed to silly drunks, and they seemed to feel that if they could only push back the police and force them to let them march in the middle of the street, they would ignite the revolution that changes the world. Who am I to question such logic? So they marched. The police stood their ground for a while, then fell back, unwilling to unleash force.

About 200 or so marched for blocks and blocks, weaving between cars, but eventually stopping at 7th and 2nd Avenue, in front of the WCCO / Ameriprise Financial buildings in the financial district. That's where two bike cops kinda drew a line in the sand, stopping the front dozen or so in the crowd with their bikes. I thought, this crowd (which was down to about 75 at this point, all told, I bet) is going to overwhelm these guys.

Suddenly, an all-terrain vehicle with two cops on the back of it zoomed into the intersection, one guy had his beanbag or rubber bullet or pellet gun raised at us, and I heard two pops. I ran down half a block down 2nd Avenue like a #$%Q# bat outta hell. Scar-eee.

But being stupid -- and being paid to be stupid -- I just had to venture back. A group of 30 - to - 50 people were in the intersection now, including one of my coworkers. After a few minutes, a row of bike cops swooped in and circled the intersection. We were surrounded on all sides.

My co-worker and I ventured to one end of the intersection and politely asked if we could be excused from the circle. The cop said, "No, go the other way." So we did. At the other end of the intersection, we made the same request. That cop also said, "No, go the other way." We suddenly realized we weren't going to be let out.

And the bike cops were only perimeter people. They were the fence. Next came the enforcers.

The bike cops were quickly joined by armed, helmeted, Storm Trooper-like SWAT types all in black, with weapons out. A cop with a pepper spray gun was screaming at me to get down on my knees and put my hands on my head.

So I did.

I couldn't stop smiling a nervous smile. They announced that "everyone in this intersection is being put under arrest." I thought, oh man, my first night in jail!!

But then I noticed that a bunch of cameramen were walking out of the circle. "Hey, I'm media too! They're letting those guys go!" I yelled over to one of the officers. They directed me out of the circle, and I mentioned that my co-worker was media too and on his knees not far behind me. I was free! He was too! Yippeee!

That was about it.

Most everyone else got arrested, though the police chief met with the now large crowd of gathering reporters and said they'd only be charged with misdemeanors. A handful of juveniles and concert-goers who had been looking for their parking ramps were also let go.

the end bye bye see ya later!

P.S. Looks like the Pioneer Press was also there:

FROM:

30 arrested

All Headlines

Thirty people arrested in Minneapolis following Rage Against the Machine concert
Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 09/04/2008 01:09:17 AM CDT


Roughly 30 people were arrested in downtown Minneapolis Wednesday evening as they marched through the streets after a much-anticipated Rage Against the Machine concert.

It began when a group of about 200 people began slowly marching from the Target Center on First Avenue, where the concert ended about 10:30 p.m., chanting slogans about democracy and "taking the streets."

The Target Center had been surrounded by dozens of police in full riot gear, anticipating trouble following clashes with protesters in St. Paul on prior days during the Republican National Convention.

As the group walked southeast down Seventh Street, police began tapping the ankles of stragglers, telling them to get off the street and onto the sidewalk. At one point, a group of officers in a six-wheeled all-terrain vehicle fired two rounds from what appeared to be either a beanbag or pellet gun.

Several people who were at the concert said they also saw police use pepper spray on individuals walking from the concert.

By the time the marchers reached the corner Seventh Street and 2nd Avenue South, they were down to about 75 people. The group stopped and started cheering, before a few called out "let's keep on taking the streets."

Some of the crowd dispersed as more police arrived on bikes and horses. Just after midnight, police circled the group, ordered them to the ground and cuffed them.

"We are free citizens of America, and we are here because we love our country," said a girl


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who was leading the crowd, who refused to give her name.
"We were at the Rage concert, and they are taking it of context. We were just marching," said Dan Rarick, of Hutchinson, immediately before the arrests. Rarick said he was a U.S. Marine veteran who served in Iraq.

"They're taking it a little to the extreme," added his friend, Joe Tschumperlin, of Shakopee, also a Marine veteran. Seconds later, the arrests began.

Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan, who was on the streets monitoring the situation, said "I'm surprised it wasn't a little worse based on the last few days in St. Paul."

He estimated about 30 people were arrested for blocking traffic, and expected them to be charged with misdemeanors.

Fred Melo, John Brewer, Mara H. Gottfried and Tad Vezner contributed to this story.