Dozens Detained Ahead of Convention By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: August 30, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minn. — On the weekend before the Republican National Convention, law enforcement agencies detained dozens of people and issued a series of search warrants aimed at groups believed to be organizing demonstrations while delegates and Republican officials are in town.
Police released one person at a time from a protest-planning headquarters where people were detained in St. Paul on Friday night.
On Friday night the Ramsey County sheriff's department, accompanied by the St. Paul police, detained people inside a building here that was being used as a headquarters to plan protests.
“They handcuffed all of us,†said Sonia Silbert, 28, from Washington. “They searched everyone.â€
People who had been in the building said that officers entered shortly after 8:30 p.m. with a warrant and instructed them to lie on the ground, adding that they had been questioned and photographed before being released.
Jordan Kushner, a member of the National Lawyers Guild, said the two-story brick building had been rented by a nonprofit organization and was being used by several groups planning protests.
People who had been inside said teach-ins and legal training had been conducted there, and that the space was also a repository for such items as computers and bicycles.
The R.N.C. Welcoming Committee, a group that has said it wants to block roads during the convention, issued a statement Friday night that was read aloud outside the meeting place by a woman who identified herself as Sarah Coffey.
Ms. Coffey said that the officers, citing fire violations as the reason for their visit, “detained over 50 people in an attempt to
pre-empt planned protests.â€
The sheriff's department continued the sweeps on Saturday morning, executing warrants for three houses in Minneapolis and two in St. Paul, detaining more than 50 people and arresting 4.
A copy of a warrant at one house said the police were authorized to look for a laundry list of items, including fire bombs, Molotov cocktails, brake fluid, photographs and maps of St. Paul, paint, computers and camera equipment, and documents and other communications.
Residents of the houses where the warrants were served denied having any unlawful or dangerous materials.
Attorneys for the National Lawyers Guild said the people who were detained and photographed included local residents as well as visitors in town to demonstrate at the convention.
Bruce Nestor, a lawyer at one house, said three people there were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit a riot.
“In my mind it's a classic preventive detention charge,†Mr. Nestor said.
He said the authorities were permitted to hold those they arrested without charging them for up to 36 hours -- excluding weekends or holidays -- in essence detaining them for the length of the convention.
On Saturday morning the father of one woman who was arrested said he was outraged.
“There is no cause for this,†said Dave Bilking, whose daughter, Monica Bilking, a 23-year-old student, had been removed in handcuffs.
The sheriff's department did not respond to a phone message requesting comment.
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Signature tactics of a police state.
Fascism anyone?
Emphasis is mine.
the "personal" is political
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