RNC: I Couldn't Get Inside

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RNC: I Couldn't Get Inside

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St. Paul, Minn− An order of disbursement by the St. Paul Police Department was given in the free-speech zone. The gathered crowd of protesters had been deemed unruly, and Minnesota State University Moorhead Senior Adam Wiese was disbursing from that free-speech zone in Downtown St. Paul when the barrel of a SWAT Team’s weapon was pointed at him. The SWAT officer was standing on top of the famous Mickey’s Dining Car, a small inexpensive eatery in downtown St. Paul. The SWAT officer clad in black body armor, a heavy helmet with a clear face-protecting visor, black boots and shin-guards sweeping his crowd-controlling weapon back and forth to encourage the disbursement. The 2008 Republican National Convention was held in Minneapolis/St. Paul the beginning of September and the view from outside the Excel Energy Center was vastly different from the view inside.

Wiese was in St. Paul during the RNC as member of the Anti-Capitalist Bloc, group and spent six days in the Twin Cities experiencing interactions with riot police “nearly every day I was there (St. Paul).” Wiese said. “I didn’t want to carry around my big mask, so I just had some goggles and a surgical mask. Not to scare anybody or hide my identity. Just for my protection.” The six days Wiese was in the Twin Cities apart of the protests had an important impression on him. 

“If our society is what it claims it is, there shouldn’t be a 15 foot high fence or 3000 riot police to protect the state from the people. Any state that needs to resort to these measures doesn’t rule with the consent of the people. I think there is definite moral imperative in our day and age to move towards a more direct democracy.” 

There were people there who didn’t limit their anger or demands and made a much broader statement  about the system, and not just one politician according to Wiese. 

“That inspired me a great deal.” Wiese said. “So much of that inspiration came not from the eloquence of their critique, but from the elements of solidarity they showed. These are values we can use to base a better system off of.” 

Wiese reflected on what he thought went on inside the Xcel Center, “I imagine a lot of people congratulating themselves on their whiteness and their power.” There were people present from all over the country: Iraq Veterans Against the War, Code Pink, Immigration Reform Advocacy Groups, simple Anti-War groups, groups asking to support the troops in Iraq, Anarchist Syndicates, International Workers of the World, Students For a Democratic Society, among many others; all being watched by the National Lawyer’s Guild, a legal observer group, witnessing the activities in the streets that week.

MSUM Senior Tessa Torgeson and MSUM Alumni Dustin Riccio made a special trip to the Twin Cities the evening of the last day of the RNC for the “No Peace for the War-Makers” march organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee. Torgeson and Ricci planned on being there for the march at 4 PM, then driving back to Moorhead that evening but due to their detainment, didn’t get back until the following morning. The march started at the State Capitol and the last speaker wrapped up her speech about 4:50 p.m., a police officer announced over a loudspeaker: "Your permit will expire at 5 p.m. At that point, you don't have a right to march." Followed by members of the media, the group of protesters agreed to go ahead with the route to the Xcel Center to make themselves visible. 

“I was there to show them (the Republican Delegates) that people are not OK with how things are going right now.” Torgeson said. Marching through a residential district, the group of protesters and press found themselves stopped once again at the Marion Street Bridge. 

“They started throwing flash-bang grenades and one landed right in front of us... Really loud cracks, it was just deafening... They were trying to herd us in one place.” There were members of the press that were rounded up during Thursday night’s mass arrest along with some people who were “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Torgeson said. Some protesters sat down in the street, chanting "Whose war? Their war! Whose streets? Our streets!" in unison. Riot police surrounded the crowd and as McCain prepared to speak inside the Xcel, police arrested about 300 people on the Marion Street bridge over Interstate 94, Senior Tessa Torgeson and MSUM Alum Dustin Riccio among those arrested that evening. The two were loaded onto a city bus turned police bus and detained for 5-6 hours, purses and cameras were confiscated and held until the next Monday. 

“The police mostly pretty nice while we were being detained.” Torgeson said. Other activist groups were prepared for the mass release of those detained and were offering rides and food for those in need where the police bus unloaded.

The St. Paul Police Department had no comment on the detention of Torgeson and Riccio.

Senior Matt Even was also in the Twin Cities during the RNC for a concert and the weekend, but wandered around downtown and gathered a general impression of the atmosphere during the week of the RNC. 

“The riot police were everywhere, I’ve never seen anything like that.” Even said. “They were trying to intimidate, they would sit there and load their guns, click them, which is more antagonizing to a crowd.” Although Even was not apart of any political interest group, he witnessed the iron barricades surrounding the nearest access routes to the Xcel Center. 

“They were mobile, shipped in by truck so they could be broken down and set up easily. They were 12-13 feet high with guards around them. No way to get close to the Xcel Center.” Even reflected on the people present at the capitol and what he thought of their motives. “I didn’t get involved because some of their claims, I don’t want to say biased, but were way over the top. A lot of those people, they wouldn’t vote, they wouldn’t go out and be informed.”

The United States Presidential Nominating Conventions old party traditions that began in the early 19th century. In recent years, the conventions have taken on a certain sameness due in part to their general predictability, according to Ted Koppel, the anchor of ABC’s Nightline,