(((Busted up the anarchist meeting with guns drawn – no charges, no arrests –
*boarded up the building.* That's a good one.)))
(((Where are the computers?)))
(...)
After each person was released after being photographed, exiting the building and crossing between police cars to a crowd of cheering friends on the sidewalk across from the building. No one was arrested, but sheriff’s deputies remained inside the building.
Eventually, a city contractor arrived to board up the building, allegedly for unspecified code violations.
“This isn’t the way we do things in St. Paul.” City Council member Dave Thune
St. Paul City Council member Dave Thune said he was trying to find out who ordered the building locked up and on what grounds. “This isn’t the way we do things in St. Paul,” Thune said. “I don’t want the city to get sucked into something that the sheriff’s office is concocting.”
Thune said that someone had called in the city contractor and ordered him to secure the building, but this was not done according ot St. Paul city procedures.
“Normally,” said Thune, “we only board up buildings that are vacant and ramshackle. The fire inspector has no idea what’s going on. He hadn’t been called. The person who is on 24/7 call was not called. I talked to him trying to find out who did issue that order and why.”
The building at 827 Smith Avenue had been rented by the RNC Welcoming Committee as a “convergence space,” open to activists for meetings, eating, and just hanging out. Earlier in the week, a large downstairs room in the former theater held tables of literature and about a dozen computers, (((oh wait, there they are, I might have known))) set up for free wi-fi access for visitors. Large maps showed downtown St. Paul streets. The kitchen was spotless, with stainless steel refrigerators and a gas range, looking like a commercial kitchen in a church basement. The second floor room, where Sammy and her family were watching a video on consumerism Friday night, had comfortable theater seats and space for meetings.
Search warrant: from soap flakes and X boxes to Molotov cocktails
A young man who would not give his name said that many people had asked to see the search warrant. After “what seemed like a long time,” someone was allowed to read the warrant aloud. His recollection, affirmed by at least two others, was that the warrant was very long and listed many items, including soap flakes, X boxes, paint, computer operating support manuals, caltrops, bleach, floppy disks with digital information, Molotov cocktails and many other items. (((Sounds like Burning Man, but maybe that's the wrong state.)))
Dave Thune reported that sheriff’s deputies hauled out literature and other items in boxes. Literature available in the Convergence Center earlier in the week included “The Struggle is Our Inheritance: A History of Radical Minnesota,” “Anarchy: A Pamphlet,” “a guide to 2008 antiRNC organizing,” and “Need to Know Basics: Coldsnap Legal Collective’s Minnesota Legal Primer for the RNC.”...
((("Come and see the violence inherent in the system:")))
http://www.minnesotaindependent.com/
(((More:)))
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html
