Riot police in front of the St. Paul Capitol Building, 4 September 2008. Photo by Nigel Parry.
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While most people in the world experienced the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN via television, those of us who live in the Twin Cities, who attended the Convention as protesters, observers, or journalists, were able to observe the events first hand.
Sara Remke, who owns the Black Dog Cafe, agreed with the business group that business was fine during the event. But as a St. Paul resident, she said, she found the police presence during the convention "very distressing." — Community Conversation about the RNC, St. Paul City Hall, 24 September 2008.
Many of us were extremely distressed at the pre-Convention fear-mongering by the local government and police force of both Twin Cities, warning of "anarchists bent on destroying the city"; we were distressed by a disproportionate and intimidating police presence even during small protests and protester coffee shop lunches around Convention time; and we were distressed by witnessing and hearing reports of what are internationally-recognized to be human rights violations which included pre-Convention detentions, searches, arrests and house raids of independent journalists and police watch videographers, and of the homes of peaceful protest organizers.
"(It was) a systematic denial of the right to free speech," said Mike Whalen, whose duplex on Iglehart Avenue was raided by police, though no one was arrested and nothing was taken. "I've lived in St. Paul all my life, and it's just weird when something like this goes on." — Community Conversation about the RNC, St. Paul City Hall, 24 September 2008.
As well as the militarization of the city, other areas of public concern included mass arrests that swept up bystanders, street medics, legal observers, and members of the media, and unnecessary police violence during and after arrests.
"St. Paul was turned into a war zone, the streets cleared by batons and tear gas night after night" — Jess Sundin, March on the RNC organizer, Community Conversation about the RNC, St. Paul City Hall, 24 September 2008.
The RNC '08 Report website exists to provide a citizen's archive of media reports, government documents, and other resources relating to the 2008 Republican National Convention, held in St. Paul, MN. The source material posted on this website will ultimately be used to compile a truly independent, publicly available, citizen's report on what happened during the 2008 RNC.
"We have to take a long, careful look at what happened and figure out how to genuinely change the direction of our society," said Eric Angell, a guest at a protesters' convergence center that was raided by police the weekend before the convention began. — Community Conversation about the RNC, St. Paul City Hall, 24 September 2008.
If we are to address what happened, the public needs to have access to as much primary source material as possible--including camera footage from both police and city car and street camera videotapes. This independent media archive exists to compile and freely offer the broadest possible scope of source materials which will help members of the public, researchers, and decision-makers of all kinds to work out exactly what happened.
Nigel Parry
Minneapolis, MN
26 September 2008
Contact the RNC '08 Report project.
VIDEO: Elliot Hughes, arrested on day 1 of the Convention, gives his testimony of torture in the Ramsey County jails at the "Community Conversation about the RNC", St. Paul City Council, 24 September 2008
Video courtesy of The Uptake