[Marxism] NY Times picks up small story on RNC

[bauerly at yorku.ca]

I particularly like the headline "dozens arrested" which is followed at the end
of the first paragraph with "more than 250 arrests".  I guess 250+ is still
dozens but it is also hundreds.  There are a few good pictures also.

Brad

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02protest.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1220360516-3wvIVABJKcjr/ZHg9MQ0lQ

As Throngs of Protesters Hit Streets, Dozens Are Arrested After Clashes

By PATRICK HEALY and COLIN MOYNIHAN
ST. PAUL — Thousands of protesters, many of them demonstrating against the war
in Iraq, marched on Monday through the streets outside the arena where the
Republican National Convention is being held, with some smashing windows and
battling with the police in clashes that led to more than 250 arrests.

Although most of the protesters were peaceful, the police used pepper spray and
long wooden sticks to subdue some; several demonstrators also said police
officers fired projectiles at them.

In one confrontation downtown, as several dozen demonstrators milled around and
danced in the streets, police officers wearing helmets, padded vests and shin
guards converged on the group. As the two sides faced off and tensions rose,
the police squirted pepper spray into the crowd.

“I saw the cops shooting,” said a man who gave his name as Jude Ortiz. Orange
foam lay on the pavement, along with a red cloth object the size of a finger
that contained beads.

A commander in the St. Paul Police Department, Doug Holtz, said he knew nothing
about projectiles being used near Jackson Street, where one of the most intense
confrontations took place.

Commander Holtz said officers had fired “less lethal” 40-millimeter projectiles
in a park near the Mississippi River, where he said demonstrators had thrown
bottles and other objects at officers. He said 75 people or more had been
arrested there.

These scenes from the first day of the Republican convention contrasted sharply
with the more muted demonstrations at the Democratic convention in Denver last
week. The protests Monday in St. Paul were much more pitched, and the number of
protesters and police officers here was far greater.

At one point, a group of about 200 protesters — many wearing black bandannas
across their faces and some wearing black balaclavas — roamed through downtown,
shouting and chanting and throwing street signs and concrete planters in the
road. At another point, a police officer grabbed one of the youths. Others
wrested him away, then appeared to knock the officer to the ground. On one
knee, the officer released an arc of pepper spray.

Elsewhere in St. Paul, a prominent Democratic Party strategist, Donna Brazile,
was hit by pepper spray while trying to walk around protesters outside the
convention hall, Ms. Brazile said in an interview.

“I got a strong whiff — just toxic — and my head and throat are still hurting,”
said Ms. Brazile, who appears on CNN as a political analyst. “I’ll avoid the
protesters tomorrow.”

Along the highways leading to downtown, protesters stood on overpasses with
signs demanding the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, war crimes charges against
the Bush administration and new laws on equal pay.

In one of the most chaotic moments, members of the Republican delegation from
Connecticut said they were shoved and spat upon by protesters near the
convention hall, according to the state party’s executive director, Heath
Fahle. He wrote an item on the party’s blog describing a “human chain” of
protesters who tried to block Republicans at a security perimeter near the
convention site. Besides the shoving and spitting, the protesters shouted
epithets at the dozens of delegates, Mr. Fahle wrote.

As the protests grew, scores of National Guard troops in riot gear and gas masks
fanned out around the Xcel Energy Center, where the convention is being held,
and set up a blockade about three blocks away. Police helicopters buzzed over
St. Paul throughout the day. Humvees painted in fatigue green ferried water to
police officers working in the 88-degree heat, and city dump trucks were used
to block traffic on some streets.

Republican officials said about 30 agencies were policing the city on Monday,
including the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Departments and the Ramsey County
and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Departments.

The clashes between the police and protesters were mostly sporadic. One of the
largest of the demonstrations, which had a permit from the local authorities,
began around 1 p.m. at the Minnesota Capitol and unfolded peacefully for the
most part along the designated route.

Near the start of the march, two women and a young man secured themselves with
chains to a car that obstructed traffic.

Just after 5 p.m., Jerah Plucker, 33, a documentary filmmaker from Minneapolis,
called a reporter to say that he was among about 300 people surrounded by
officers in the park along the banks of the Mississippi facing Harriet Island.

Mr. Plucker, who works for an organization called Freespeak Media, said people
had been listening to musicians in the park when officers formed a cordon.

“Over the loudspeaker they are saying, ‘You are being arrested,’ ” he said.
“They’re telling us, ‘Sit down, put your hands on your head.’ ”