78-Year-Old Nun Arrested At RNC Protest

Nine Protesters Were Busted By Cops In Riot Gear For Entering Restricted Area

(AP)  Police in riot gear arrested two women in their 70s and seven others taking part in an antiwar march at the Republican National Convention on Sunday after they crossed a security fence into a restricted area near Xcel Energy Center.

The nine were arrested for trespassing, said Doug Holtz, a St. Paul police commander. All but one, who did not have identification, were released by police shortly after their arrest.

Eight of the protesters were handcuffed, and some flashed the peace sign to onlookers and media gathered at the security fence. Betty McKenzie, a 78-year-old nun, was not handcuffed as she was led away. The protesters had planned ahead of time to cross the fence, and organizers had announced it ahead of the march, which drew about 250 people.

"We are going to march into the arms of police. Whatever they are going to do is all right with us," organizer David Harris said to the marchers before they entered the restricted zone. He was one of those arrested.

"I believe it's time to stop this war," said Steve Clemens, 57, of Minneapolis, who also crossed the fence.

The arrests capped an otherwise peaceful march organized by Veterans for Peace and fellow peace group CodePink that began at the Capitol and made its way to the convention hall. It was a quiet warm-up before a planned march Monday that was expected to attract a larger crowd; organizers of Monday's march have said they hope to have as many as 50,000 people.

Jeanne Hynes, 72, of St. Paul was arrested along with her friend McKenzie, a nun from the Sisters of St. Joseph.

"We both planned to do this if we could make it this far," said Hynes as she waited to be arrested at the end of the half-mile route. "We weren't sure if our backs would hold up."

As the march began, Harris read the names of soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq. After each name was read, the marchers near Harris shouted "We will remember you!"

Bringing up the rear of the march, about three dozen people wearing orange jump suits and black hoods over their heads marched in silence with their hands behind their backs. Marchers carried banners that said, "Torture Destroys Us All." Sixty-one combat boots were lined up on the Capitol lawn to represent Minnesota soldiers who died in Iraq.

"We want to make it very clear we are pro-soldier and anti-war," said Madea Benjamin, co-founder of CodePink.

Korean War veteran Bill Starr, 73, was carrying an American flag and a tombstone with the name of a soldier killed in Iraq. He said he sees futility in war.

"I can lock up my house and scream about it or I can come here," said Starr, of Minneapolis, who marched with his 37-year-old daughter.

Meanwhile, members of the RNC Welcoming Committee - which is not a sponsor of the Monday march but has been helping other protest groups coordinate - were trying to regroup after a series of raids Friday night and Saturday saw six people arrested and materials seized.

Assistant St. Paul Police Chief Matt Bostrom said those arrested had plans to disrupt transportation in the area, damage property and injure others.

Some of what was seized included knives, axes, bomb-making materials and anti-war literature.

It didn't appear likely that those arrested would be out of jail in time to help organize protesters or participate in Monday's event. They aren't required to be brought before a judge until noon on Wednesday, said their attorney Bruce Nestor.

Even so, Nestor said he was hopeful that a judge would review the cases against the six on Sunday and they could be released sooner. He said none of the six have any convictions other than misdemeanors and none have a history of violence.

The arrested can legally be held for 36 hours, not including the weekend or the Labor Day holiday.

"It's pretty clear that the point is to get organizers out of the picture," said Andy Fahlstrom, spokesman for the RNC Welcoming Committee. He said those arrested were in charge of various things, including finding housing for protesters and arranging food, and the arrests had adversely affected their organization.

Meanwhile, the organizers of Monday's march said they weren't changing their plans despite the GOP's decision to sharply curtail that day's session.

"The main effect of this scaling-back of the convention tomorrow is that our voices will be front and center and it will be the main news that is happening tomorrow," said Jess Sundin, of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

"The world will see people of this country say no to the war in Iraq."

[kennedy7955]

The Republican party showed signs of fascism last night. No substance, lots of talk about personalities, talk about reforming of policies of their own making, lies about responsibility for the problems, violence against protesters. Bush was there by remote, no doubt a compromise to lessen the blow he brings to McCain and the party he has run into the ground.

McCain canceled his appearance on Larry King Live because of an interview the day before which he didn''t like on CNN. I saw the interview and there was not a thing wrong with it, and even if there was - MCain would have had the opportunity to address it in the interview. This is a Republican tactic started by Bush, trying to punish the media for not reporting as the Republicans would like. For a war hero, his skin has become very thin in his old age.

To top it all off the police and secret service roughed up protesters and the press covering the demonstration outside the event. Absolutely disgusting how the police abused the people. There are videos all over the internet clearly showing the peaceful nature of the demonstration.

A real leader would be outraged at this treatment of demonstrators and as expected, Bush and McCain have said nothing about this infringement of free speech because it suits their cause. Well maybe it does and maybe it doesn''t. The fallout of these reports may just some to haunt them.

The republicans do not deserve another 4 years. They had their chance and did a very poor job of it indeed.

[deacon20081]

We came home from Nam to be Spit ON at the AirPort,and
Called Baby Killers....we didn''t drop bombs on Villages....McCain DID!

[deacon20081]

should of tazered their rear..
78 is old enough time for her to die anyway..
Posted by AmericaBiker

------------------------------------------------------
Ignorant jerk I hope you slam your MOPED into a curb.

[kansas1946]

78-Year-Old Nun Arrested At RNC Protest
***********************************

That ought to improve the Republican currency with the Catholics. :o)

[dcamp2909]

The building shown is NO WHERE NEAR the RNC. Just more media bias!!!!!

[gornc]

liberals kill babies,
conservatives kill terrorists. enough said.

[toolmangler-2009]

Why don''''t these nuns protest their "fathers" priests raping little boys? They are sooooo screwed up.
Posted by proisrael at 05:22 PM : Sep 01, 2008


They do, but it seems that ''Priests'' aren''t the only ones raping kids. Approximately 1% of the seven billion people on this planet routinely commit sexual crimes against children and Rouge priests account for only one hunedredth of one percent of that group. and even that is an over estimate of the actual number. It would seem that the Nuns have more than just a few hundred priests to pray over. I hope that they don''t hav to pray oveer you for that reason.

[ubrew12]

nocatnowaco said: "Stop exploiting the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers. They are heros and have sacrificed their lives"

Two choices:
1. Angry about the lies that led to the Iraq War, and its toll, you can use the image of the fallen soldier as part of your protest.
2. Approving of the action to invade Iraq, you can prevent people from viewing scenes of battle, soldiers or civilians being killed, caskets returning from the war, etc.

BOTH exploit the image of the soldier to make their case. The second exploits the ''hero'' image by preventing the ''victim'' image from being seen. I just think the second is inconsistent with a modern democracy, and more representative of a police state. Anytime you''re preventing images from being seen, you are preventing citizens from making their own choices about what images to view, to help them make a decision. You are, basically, keeping them stupid.

Don''t like a soldiers casket in a protest? Don''t look. Maybe these protesters are just protesting the fact that your right to ''not look'' was taken away from you by this government. The gov''t thinks you''re too fragile to make that decision on your own.

[nocatnowaco]

Stop exploiting the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers. They are heros and have sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom, democracy, and piece for the nation and the world. For all the people in uniform, we are supporting you.

[stn_sage]

What no McCain campaign workers pretending to be FBI agents, pushing and shoving protesters this year!?

Yeah, chances are we AREN''T going to see any 78-year old nuns slapped around at the convention, as much as they''d like to do it, it''s not the image that McCain and the GOP want to present to the public!

After all they''re FAILURES, dereliction of duty, dishonesty, and perversion; they''ve gone into ''nice guy'' mode, to try to lull the public into forgetting!

Is the public stupid enough to forget a MOUNTAIN of failures?! We''ll see!

[stn_sage]

Correction: the in ''the just don''t have'' obviously should be they! My cursor went active just before I sent my comment, and it was changed by someone!

[stn_sage]

GOP = the beginnings of a fascist regime!

Posted by mitch6544 at 01:36 PM : Sep 01, 2008
--------------------
WHAT?! ''The beginnings''? WRONG! GOP = Fascist regime.
The just don''t have the courage of their convictions, but are smart enough to know that they don''t want to
announce it to the rank-and-file lest the same would bolt and reform and make a new, real Republican party!

[libsluv2spit]

this is one of those rare occassion that athiest liberals would embrace religion..BECAUSE BUSH''S enemy is thier friend..

[freeidea]

I guess ubrew12 is right. We should profile those who are breaking the law, and let some get away with it if they look a certain way. Same on airplanes too, right? I missed the truth of where the shooting occured.

[mitch5511]

GOP = the beginnings of a fascist regime!

[ubrew12]

The elderly among us are the new muslims. They should be viewed with deep suspicion.

Shoot first and ask questions later. LOL.

[titletrack]

good to see nothing changes in RNC world...

Posted by Inventagod2 at 12:42 PM :

Good to know "progressives" know how to stockpile urine and bricks. Praise Obama

[freeidea]

"Truth Maters" If we shout loudly, but do not speak the truth, we spread hate and corruption to others. Legal protesting is a shining star in a democracy, but when people intentionally tries to break the law by going past security lines(hoping for a newsworthy arrest), it stains their cause by saying, "we don''t care about any increased terrorist risks to the public, our votes or voice mean more than yours". Real Social Bigotry on the march!

[inventagod2]

good to see nothing changes in RNC world...

[slave4mzpatt]

Do you know Iraq never attacked the US nor ever threatened the US. Bush is a war monger, he and his family and other investors(many of which are Saudis including many of the binladin clan) are getting rich from war machines.
When Bush said mission accomplished that was fine we should have pulled back and establish bases and let whoever was going to takeover do so. If our goal was to stop weapons of mass destruction we could just waited to see. $1,000,000,000,000 and all those young men and woman for what? Bush is a no good so and so!