Minnesota police raid ‘criminal’ RNC protesters

Minneapolis Police Department officers stand guard outside the Food Not Bombs house. (Photo: Jeff Severns Guntzel via Minnesota Independent)

News of Sarah Palin and Hurricane Gustav has eclipsed a series of police raids that took place in the Twin Cities over the weekend, in which FBI agents and local law enforcement detained six people on suspicion of conspiracy to riot at the Republican National Convention. The detainees have not been formally charged with any crime and their lawyers are in court today seeking their release. There were no such pre-emptive arrests of protesters at the Democratic Convention in Denver last week.

The raids started Friday night with gun-toting officers entering an anarchist headquarters in downtown St. Paul, known as a “convergence space.” The occupants, ordered to lie on the floor, demanded to see a warrant, as heard on the audio on this not-very-revealing video.

Bob Fletcher, the Ramsey County sheriff, whose jurisdiction covers St. Paul, said the action was part of an investigation of the RNC Welcoming Committee. He was described the group as “a criminal enterprise made up of 35 self-described anarchists who are 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.”

No arrests were made.

On Saturday morning, FBI and local police raided a home in Minneapolis housing an organization called Food Not Bombs. Four people were detained on “probable cause” for conspiracy to riot.

The search warrant for the raid said police were looking for “assembled, improvised incendiary devices” and urine and feces, apparently to be used in protests. Fletcher said the urine had been seized. Lawyers for protesters said the material identified as “unidentified liquid” was actually gray water used to save water in an ecologically correct toilet. The officers did find 37 “caltrops” in the garage of the home, according to Minnesota Independent’s Molly Priesmeyer who reviewed the police inventory of material seized in the raid. A caltrop is a nail-like device used to stop traffic or puncture tires.

While some complained of rough tactics,  at least one of the officers acted with decency, according to Minnesota Independent. As a five-year-old boy was escorted from the home by police, he said he wanted his markers. An officer went in and came back out a few minutes later. “These are the only colors I could find,” he said. “Did I get the right stuff?”

On Saturday afternoon, police kicked in the door of another house in Minneapolis and detained three people on suspicion of conspiracy to riot.

On Sunday morning, The National Lawyers Guild said a total of six people had been detained but none had been formally charged. Police have 72 hours to charge detained suspects. On Sunday, Guild lawyer Gena Berglund said she was seeking immediate judicial review on Monday of the “probable cause holds” used to detain the six activists. Watch the video here.

(Jefferson Morley is national editor for Michigan Messenger’s parent organization, the Center for Independent Media.  Be sure to follow news about these raids and developing RNC Convention-related coverage at our sister site, Minnesota Independent.)