Outside the convention Tuesday, police fired flash bang grenades and tear gas at peaceful protesters after the end of a march led by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. The grenades are designed to produce a deafening bang and a blinding flash. Twin Cities police arrested at least 10 people on Tuesday bringing the total number this week to over three hundred. Dozens of activists jailed on Monday were still being slowly released last night. Democracy Now caught up with a medic shortly after he was freed after more than twenty-hours behind bars.
Medic: “There are still a whole lot of people in jail waiting to get out and a lot of people are really uncertain about how they are getting out some of them have various injuries from pepper spray getting beat up by the cops before getting in there…just kind of uncertain what is going on.”
Meanwhile, the Ramsey County sheriff’s office has admitted it infiltrated and spied on a prominent protest group in the Twin Cities known as the RNC Welcoming Committee for the past year. Two informants and an undercover investigator posed as members of the group which the sheriff’s office deemed to be a “organized criminal enterprise.” The RNC Welcoming Committee describes itself as an anarchist/anti-authoritarian organizing body.
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Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign Takes Cause to Streets Outside RNC
One day after the historic Poor People’s march in St. Paul, we speak to the group’s national organizer, Cheri Honkala. She’s a long time organizer and director of the Kensington Welfare Rights Union in Philadelphia.
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Thousands Join Poor People's March Outside RNC
Outside the Excel Energy Center, thousands of people filled the streets of St. Paul for a rally and march organized by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films reports.
- Turmoil in the Twin Cities