Protesters Push Antiwar Message At RNC
(ST. PAUL) Several thousand people gathered in the shadow of the St. Paul capitol building this morning to rally ahead of a protest march to the Xcel Energy Center, where the Republican National Convention kicked off (in abbreviated form, due to Hurricane Gustav) today.
Most of the protesters had come to express their desire for U.S. troops to leave Iraq, though their methods were wildly different: Teamsters dressed in blue union t-shirts lounged on the grass as Code Pink protesters, dressed in elaborate pink dresses and costumes, danced and waved; young men in black t-shirts, bandanas over their faces, held their fists in the air and chanted slogans while two men wearing giant Bush and Cheney heads danced to a song called “Insane In The McCain Brain” condemning the administration.
More muted were members of Iraq Veterans Against The War, who, clad in stark black t-shirts, gathered in small groups away from the protest theatrics.
Vincent Emanuele, a member of the group and Indiana native, served eight months in Iraq, and said he didn’t oppose the war when it started. But after seeing the “killing of innocents, abuse of prisoners, destruction of civilian property,” he said he became disillusioned.
“This of course was completely contradictory to the mission that we were originally sent to do which was that quote unquote winning hearts and minds,” Emanuele said. He spoke of “watching contractors handing out business cards to infantry guys as they were leaving Iraq, as in here was a job for you to do when you’re done.”
Melida Arredondo Alexander brought a coffin to the protest, as well as a photograph of her stepson, Corporal Alexander Arrredondo, who was killed in Iraq at age 20. She handed out copies of one of the letters Arrredondo sent from Iraq, which read in part, “I am not afraid of dying. I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me.”
“The Bush administration will not show the caskets, will not show the dead, and will not show how it affects the families,” said Alexander, a photo of her stepson on her t-shirt.
“John McCain, who served in Vietnam, has been stating very emphatically that the continued occupation of Iraq is to justify those who have died already,” she continued. “And I find that to be immoral and in poor taste, to suggest that basically the blood that my stepson gave doing his job is sufficient reason to continue killing people and having casualties both of US troops and of the Iraqi people."
The crowd gathered at the capitol were peaceful, though by late afternoon, CBS News’ Allison O’Keefe reports, downtown St Paul police appeared to be on high alert.
“Riot Police are everywhere, many of them with masks on, as one set of riot police fired off four rounds of tear gas in the direction of some anarchist protestors,” she reports.
“The tear gas was released down by the river where a number of police on horses and bicycle cops, also wearing masks, have formed.” (Here’s a report on the clashes with police and arrests that took place after the gathering at the capitol.)
Back at the pre-march gathering, a dreadlocked man led a chant of “bring our troops home now” from the stage. Del Grote stood in the grass clad in a black-and-white striped prisoner uniform, adopted from a Halloween costume he made two years before.
He said he feels the president should be in jail, and explained that he didn’t feel it would have been right to not protest because of Hurricane Gustav.
“The war in Iraq is every bit as important as the hurricane that is hitting the New Orleans area,” he said. “I think they’re totally two separate issues.”
“They took such a beating after what happened with Katrina, that’s why they’re making such a big show of shutting everything down now,” Texas native Mim Olsen in reference to the Republicans’ decision to tone down their convention, arguing that their actions have not been sincere.
Minnesota native Lauren DeLand, who held a sign reading “STOP TORTURING PEOPLE YOU FREAKS,” said she was protesting because of the war as well as “the future of reproductive rights in this country.” She said the point of the protest wasn’t to convince the Republicans gathered at the Xcel Center but rather to spur Americans in opposition to them.
“This is a message for the entire country, because in order to get Republicans out of the White House and out of government, we need to mobilize people to vote them out,” she said.
UPDATE: At 6:30 pm local time, O’Keefe spoke to Doug Holtz of the St. Paul Police Department. He told her police have arrested 56 people so far – and they expect that number to rise. The arrests include trespassing, disorderly conduct, and gross misdemeanors, and include four felony charges. Holtz said that police have "stood the line while being pelted with rocks."
UPDATE: At 8:45 local time, the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting more than 100 arrests and use of tear gas and pepper spray by police.
Most of the protesters had come to express their desire for U.S. troops to leave Iraq, though their methods were wildly different: Teamsters dressed in blue union t-shirts lounged on the grass as Code Pink protesters, dressed in elaborate pink dresses and costumes, danced and waved; young men in black t-shirts, bandanas over their faces, held their fists in the air and chanted slogans while two men wearing giant Bush and Cheney heads danced to a song called “Insane In The McCain Brain” condemning the administration.
Photo Essay: See Images Of The Rally
More muted were members of Iraq Veterans Against The War, who, clad in stark black t-shirts, gathered in small groups away from the protest theatrics.
Vincent Emanuele, a member of the group and Indiana native, served eight months in Iraq, and said he didn’t oppose the war when it started. But after seeing the “killing of innocents, abuse of prisoners, destruction of civilian property,” he said he became disillusioned.
“This of course was completely contradictory to the mission that we were originally sent to do which was that quote unquote winning hearts and minds,” Emanuele said. He spoke of “watching contractors handing out business cards to infantry guys as they were leaving Iraq, as in here was a job for you to do when you’re done.”
Melida Arredondo Alexander brought a coffin to the protest, as well as a photograph of her stepson, Corporal Alexander Arrredondo, who was killed in Iraq at age 20. She handed out copies of one of the letters Arrredondo sent from Iraq, which read in part, “I am not afraid of dying. I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me.”
“The Bush administration will not show the caskets, will not show the dead, and will not show how it affects the families,” said Alexander, a photo of her stepson on her t-shirt.
“John McCain, who served in Vietnam, has been stating very emphatically that the continued occupation of Iraq is to justify those who have died already,” she continued. “And I find that to be immoral and in poor taste, to suggest that basically the blood that my stepson gave doing his job is sufficient reason to continue killing people and having casualties both of US troops and of the Iraqi people."
The crowd gathered at the capitol were peaceful, though by late afternoon, CBS News’ Allison O’Keefe reports, downtown St Paul police appeared to be on high alert.
“Riot Police are everywhere, many of them with masks on, as one set of riot police fired off four rounds of tear gas in the direction of some anarchist protestors,” she reports.
“The tear gas was released down by the river where a number of police on horses and bicycle cops, also wearing masks, have formed.” (Here’s a report on the clashes with police and arrests that took place after the gathering at the capitol.)
Back at the pre-march gathering, a dreadlocked man led a chant of “bring our troops home now” from the stage. Del Grote stood in the grass clad in a black-and-white striped prisoner uniform, adopted from a Halloween costume he made two years before.
He said he feels the president should be in jail, and explained that he didn’t feel it would have been right to not protest because of Hurricane Gustav.
“The war in Iraq is every bit as important as the hurricane that is hitting the New Orleans area,” he said. “I think they’re totally two separate issues.”
“They took such a beating after what happened with Katrina, that’s why they’re making such a big show of shutting everything down now,” Texas native Mim Olsen in reference to the Republicans’ decision to tone down their convention, arguing that their actions have not been sincere.
Minnesota native Lauren DeLand, who held a sign reading “STOP TORTURING PEOPLE YOU FREAKS,” said she was protesting because of the war as well as “the future of reproductive rights in this country.” She said the point of the protest wasn’t to convince the Republicans gathered at the Xcel Center but rather to spur Americans in opposition to them.
“This is a message for the entire country, because in order to get Republicans out of the White House and out of government, we need to mobilize people to vote them out,” she said.
UPDATE: At 6:30 pm local time, O’Keefe spoke to Doug Holtz of the St. Paul Police Department. He told her police have arrested 56 people so far – and they expect that number to rise. The arrests include trespassing, disorderly conduct, and gross misdemeanors, and include four felony charges. Holtz said that police have "stood the line while being pelted with rocks."
UPDATE: At 8:45 local time, the Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting more than 100 arrests and use of tear gas and pepper spray by police.
Photo Essay:
Rush Limbaugh made comments about riots in Denver and their political impact.
See http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/15980105/detail.htm
That call seemed to backfire and the protesters arrived at the Republican Convention as noted above and violence unfortunately (for all involved) was not avoided with at least some of the protesters.
Lawless Intimidation by these carefully coordinated forces of the Neocon Nazi Regime are not only Highly Illegal, they are Blatantly Unconstitutional.
The Reich will not allow dissent in America.
We''ve become exactly like China in our Police State repression of dissent. A very unAmerican Policy.
Welcome to Amerikkka, GOP style.
Can you give me 44 cents so I can buy a KFC box lunch?
Also, if Obama gets it, he will throw the US under the bus to terrorist demands.
This is all controlled and contrived by the hard left democrats that run the democratic party now. This just goes to show the hypocrisy that the liberals display every day. They preach tolerance but only for those that stay in lockstep with their ideas. These protests are a tangible display of what is to be expected by the left every time someone disagrees with their god, Obama.
Also, if Obama gets it, he will throw the US under the bus to terrorist demands.
================
Suck it up Rove-boy, Suck-it-up. You are going to lose bigtime.
Piglet scum that you are.
Lawless Intimidation by these carefully coordinated forces of the Neocon Nazi Regime are not only Highly Illegal, they are Blatantly Unconstitutional.
The Reich will not allow dissent in America.
We''''ve become exactly like China in our Police State repression of dissent. A very unAmerican Policy.
Welcome to Amerikkka, GOP style.
=========
Amen.
This is all controlled and contrived by the hard left democrats that run the democratic party now.
=========
Yes, in general, the Democrats tend to run the Democratic party.
Sorry for the rude awakening, maybe turn off sean hannity for awhile and you''ll see the light.
Knucklehead.
Fight something that will save lives...
We have murder rates in America higher than the war count.
These psycho protesters who got violent with police are the epitome of what controls the Democratic party nowadays:
Atheism.
================
What a ********* comment.
Atheism will save this world from crazy Kooks like you who belong to "organized religion". You are the scariest people on this planet. Stark reminder jack-hole - 9-1l ring a bell?
otherwise dispatched WAR CRIMINALS
would love to have had protests as
the only punishment exacted upon
them.
----
Posted by republic1776
Notice how that is based on US casualties, showing contemptible regard for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who have died. Even if it were true (which it isn''t), what a disgraceful way to try to justify a war.
Posted by mainedoggie
Well that is certainly a post riddled with careful thought. The vast majority of people in the world believe in some divinity. Atheists will never be more than a footnote in history if they are even able to survive into the next century.
%u201CThis of course was completely contradictory to the mission that we were originally sent to do which was that quote unquote winning hearts and minds,%u201D Emanuele said.
He spoke of %u201Cwatching contractors handing out business cards to infantry guys as they were leaving Iraq, as in here was a job for you to do when you%u2019re done.%u201D
Yes, letting the contractors hand out cards to the infantry as they leave is a great cost-cutting measure. With so many soldiers contacted for next to nothing, the contractor can pay them rock-bottom wages to secure battle-hardened employees who would otherwise cost a fortune to hire.
I wonder what cut Bush et al get for providing this kind of access?
Posted by ourtomorrows
Thinking NEVER goes out of style.
Religions do. Or are you still worshipping Zeus and Apollo?
Posted by wawhite74
Hitler was not an Atheist. Get your facts straight.
Atheists don''t believe in a "bonus round" after death, nor that all sins are forgiven on confession (wonderful way to justify mass murder, rape, and other religious crimes). It''s OK to die for your holy war, because you''ll go to heaven forever.
Of course these people are writing checks that can never be cashed... but there''s a sucker born every minute, as the saying goes.
Free Speech? LMFAO
"Constitution", "Liberty", "Free Speech", "Bill of Rights" are concepts that have been demonized by the far right and other authoritarians in the USA. The media is cowed, just like in China, from exposing government excesses. They fear being labeled "un-American" by the Right wing propaganda machine. The American people are simply disinterested.
The police state is coming. Some Americans applaud it as they cower in fear of "terrorism" and are willing to sacrifice their liberty for false promises of safety. All the police have to do is make false accusations of "terrorism", and the cowards among us cry "protect us", allowing any excess the government practices. Later, when these charges are proven false, the media is silent to the injustices. However, the damage as been done.
Most Americans just do not care any more. They think that they will never lose their liberty and are blind to the police state being established by American authoritarian politicians and the rapidly growing "security" apparatus. By the time they realize we are no longer free it will be too late. Perhaps our downfall is inevitable.
OF ALL PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE ARRESTED THIS LADY IS NOT ONE OF THEM!
THE WORLD NEEDS WAR CRIMES TRIALS NOW FOR THE TEXASDICKTATER AND HIS SPUD NEOCON FRIENDS WHO HAVE KILLED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN THE NAME OF OIL!
It is because of people like you, who gave up, that those sociopaths are allowed the arrogance to think they are a force of nature, like your wind analogy.
You did more than give up, you joined them, and now are one of those whom the inexorable tide of change will crush underfoot.
The "wind" you speak of is the natural progress that is a given for all life. the so called "conservatives" try to halt the progression, but it is they who are but a hindrance, not a block, they will be swept aside like all who presume the arrogance to try to control nature.
%u201CFive people were accused of setting fire to a trash bin and pushing it into a police car, St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh said.%u201D
%u201CProtesters attacked members of the Connecticut delegation when they got off their buses near Xcel Center, delegates told FOX News.com and a local TV station.%u201D
%u201CA group of protesters came toward the delegation and tried to rip the credentials off their necks and sprayed them with a toxic substance that burned their eyes and stained their clothes, delegate Rob Simmons told KMSP-TV.%u201D
%u201COne 80-year-old member of the delegation had to be treated for injuries, and several other delegates had to rinse their eyes and clothing, the station reported.%u201D
%u201CDelegate Arne Schoeller Jr. said that on the way back to Xcel Center, his bus driver was talking to St. Paul Police when a protester boarded the bus uninvited.%u201D
For more information please check out other national news media web sites on the Internet.
%u201CThere were protesters laying on the ground, giving us the finger,%u201D Schoeller, of Baltimore, said. %u201COne got on the bus and %u2018thanked%u2019 us profanely, saying %u2018Thank you for (expletive) up this country%u2019 or something along those lines.%u201D
%u201CAt one point, people pushed a trash bin filled with trash and threw garbage in the streets and at cars. They also took down orange detour signs. One of them used a screwdriver to puncture the back tire of a limousine waiting at an intersection and threw a wooden board at the vehicle, denting its side. Another hurled a glass bottle at a charter bus that had stopped at an intersection. The bottle smashed into pieces but did not appear to damage the bus.%u201D
%u201CProtesters were seen lying on an interstate exit ramp to block traffic in the downtown area and linking arms to block other roads.%u201D
%u201COn the weekend, authorities seized weapons and devices from a self-described anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee, which was not among the organizers of the march. The devices were designed to disable buses, the sheriff%u2019s office said.%u201D
Unlike back in the 60%u2019s, police cannot arrest peaceful protesters.
For more information please check out other national news media web sites on the Internet.
Posted by republic1776 at 09:55 PM : Sep 01, 2008
Is that your justification to start another war - to "even" the numbers out...
Amputees, brain damaged, post traumatic stress syndrome, and suicides are also not counted as casualties of this war according to the Republicans. To dismiss the count as relatively low isn%u2019t a accurate and valid count of the casualties and is callus and disheartening by the Republicans that started this conflict on a lie to secure oil production contracts for private multinational corporations.
Posted by erichsh at 12:03 AM : Sep 02, 2008
The article does not say that...
Posted by thcarson at 09:45 AM : Sep 02, 2008
Those Iraq veterans in the protest probably got those lice at a VA hospital that McCain voted against funding...
Let''s not loose sight of that!
That''s why we can''t elect someone who''ll make the SAME mistakes!
The Military Industrial Complex spoken (warned!) by President Dwight Eisenhower has been desired by the Republican Party since 1960. The Conservatives see war and destruction as a means to divert wealth from the American People to the Private Elite Ruling Class.
A War Economy and industrial base of war products doesn%u2019t allow for the building, or sharing of wealth for the common American Worker because fabrication and assembly of products are ultimately destroyed.
We%u2019ve seen the Bush Administration and Rubber Stamp Republican Congress (with John McCain) commence an invasion and occupation of a sovereign country that didn%u2019t commit military aggression against the United States. Thus, for today The Republican Party has spent:
$550,599,621,000 with no plan to pay for the money barrowed from the Peoples Republican of China.
The US debt now has swelled to over $9 Billion Dollars, Americans have lost jobs and our Dollar has devalued because of the debt. War is the only answer and the plan by the Conservative Republicans that has seen their wealth increase while the average Americans have had their standard of living decrease.
How dumb can you be? If you oppose the government, bad things happen to you--in Iraq or the United States. Insurgents and malcontents will be eliminated because they are threats to the powers that be.
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by vetforobama
September 3, 2008 6:35 PM PDT
- Those Iraq veterans in the protest probably got those lice at a VA hospital that McCain voted against funding...
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Reply to this comment
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See all 44 CommentsPosted by IOWEIGN at 10:05 AM : Sep 02, 2008
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You said it all right. McInsane has one of the worst voting records in the senate.