[Audio/Video] Peaceful RNC Protesters Shot with Rubber Bullets/Tear Gas
Impeach for Peace Cofounder, Jodin Morey, dressed in a Guantanamo Bay suit was shot, along with others, with rubber bullets while peacefully protesting in the RNC’s Free Speech Cage in St. Paul, MN. This occurred shortly after the end of the march for poor people and human rights. Here’s his audio story:
Here’s video:
End of March, citizens arrest speech by march organizer.
Cop who march organizer had been speaking to..
Citizens arrest delivery by march organizer.
Police violently vacating free speech zone for “unlawful assembly?”
Protesters harassed while obtaining bike
Protester Pepper Sprayed
After this, things got too wild for me to consider taking pictures…
Minnesota Monitor — … The march reaches its end at the walls of the Xcel’s security zone. Riot police stand behind the cage-like walls with pepper-spray canisters drawn.
Cheri Honkala, one of the organizers of the march, takes a bullhorn and gets a boost on a friend’s shoulders.
“Listen up! … we want to thank all of you for a peaceful march today (cheers) … We wanna show what kind of disciplined army we’ve got to put an end to poverty, hunger and homelessness!â€
Next she orders the crowd to repeat her words–which they do:
“I promise …
“To be peaceful …
“Because we are nonviolent …
“We have people who are in wheelchairs …
“We have little, tiny, newborn babies …
“And children in strollers …
“So I promise not to do any dumb shit!â€
Honkala also announced her intention to walk into the RNC security zone to deliver a giant American flag and notice of a citizen’s arrest for “crimes against humanity.†She did not name names.
And with that, she walked to the gate, escorted by supporters who sang: “I went back to the rich man’s home and took back what the rich man stole…â€
She slipped the flag under the security wall and stuck the notice of arrest through a slot. “I want to practice my First Amendment rights,†she said through a bullhorn. “But not through a cage.â€
And she walked back to her marchers, who began to turn around. Many — maybe 100 — remained. It is difficult to say how many of those people joined the march at the Capitol building. One protester, betraying dashed hopes for a clash, struck a street sign with his open hand and stormed off. An uncertain but still protest-inclined crowd remained.
Riot police were spilling into position from behind a building — the Dorothy Day Center (a homeless shelter). Playing on a giant screen fixed to the side of the Xcel there were photos, one after another, of John McCain’s war days.
The police began their march on the marchers — attempting to flush them out from the dead-end street where they had concluded their march.
People moved — some quicker than others.
Two women just ahead of the police line tried to unlock their bikes. The police line descended on them and one officer gave the women a hard shove with his baton. A protester yelled out: “This shit is sick, dude!†Another cried out: “Leave the bikes!†The police relented somewhat and the bikes were freed.
An officer announced the imminent use of chemical agents.
As the remaining protesters chanted “Whose streets!? Our streets!â€, another line of riot police could be seen running into position behind them. Best anybody could tell in the early darkness, they were being surrounded, although I could see no indication of the kind of violence that might prompt such a tactical maneuver.
And that’s what it was from that point on: tactical. Like a military exercise. The display of law enforcement resources was staggering. Riot police could be seen in all directions, some with rifles for firing non-lethal “impact rounds†pointed at the protesters.
By now some of the protesters had left the dead-end street and were headed toward the Capitol. Then came the explosions and the smoke bombs. They sounded like sound grenades — or concussion bombs. They made an incredible sound. Screams could be heard and smoke seen rising. I ran with others to the scene of the explosions, but we were blocked by police.
Somebody shouted: “Which way do you want us to go?†There was no clear answer. Then suddenly the police parted a small bit and one of them yelled “Go now or be arrested. Go! Go! Go! Go!â€
Once we turned the corner the police were quick to create another wall behind us. In front of us, a spectacle: a street lined with riot police — shoulder to shoulder — that stretched for blocks.
It was an exceptionally uneven response to what I and others had witnessed of the march. There were rogues, sure. But rogues of the insult-spitting variety. And occasionally there was a protester inspired to merely stand still or lay down before the police. Those incidents were limited and brief. Mostly, as police advanced, protesters retreated.
It went on like this — it seemed at times to go on forever.
Continue Reading
Contact: Jodin, 612-328-1451
This is preposterous and deeply disturbing.
Comment by ineptsegue — September 2, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
Wake Up America! Fascism isn’t just on our doorstep anymore.
Comment by Mikael — September 3, 2008 @ 5:38 am
thank you for telling your story, Jodin. If you haven’t already, have someone take photos of your injury, and see a medic if you can. Spreading the word and lending support, Victoria
Comment by victoria — September 3, 2008 @ 10:17 am
The impeachment of Bush/Cheney shouldn’t wait.Excessive Corruption from Bush/Cheney shall
excite the same treatment of dislike towards Bush/Cheney administration.I sense nothin but the worst appearing towards Bush/Cheney in this impeachment fight.This fight started when Bush was campaigning for the presidents job which Bush never was this countries man for the job.
The people of this country are not going to take much more of Bush/Cheney corruption,the protest will grow 100 million people stronger and bigger than Bush can deal with.
Bush can resign,we will impeach.
Comment by Dennis M Mccullough — September 3, 2008 @ 11:34 am
[Audio/Video] Peaceful RNC Protesters Shot with Rubber Bullets/Tear Gas…
Impeach for Peace Cofounder, Jodin Morey, dressed in a Guantanamo Bay suit was shot, along with others, with rubber bullets while peacefully protesting in the RNC’s Free Speech Cage in St. Paul, MN. This occurred shortly after the end of the march fo…
Trackback by www.buzzflash.net — September 4, 2008 @ 3:21 pm
Jodin, Please have someone photograph your bullet wound and ask your fellow peaceful protesters to do the same. These photos will show the world how the police treat innocent citizens exercising their first amendment rights. Thank you for documenting this and for your activism. We WILL impeach the criminals in the White House– Cheney first. Love, Cynthia
Comment by Cynthia Papermaster — September 4, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
Jodin, Now we know what “fusion” is all about in law enforcement and what Blackwater training is all about and what’s ahead in this country is all about. My God!!
The advice to be photographed is excellent, and so is the advice to get that wound checked out. And don’t rule out counseling when this thing is over.
We were discussing your situation this afternoon on the regular Thursday impeachment picketing in front of Rep. Blumenauer’s office and one said you want the MDs to check for nerve damage from those rubber bullets. We’re hoping all of the cops’ victims mount a $50 million class-action suit against the City of St. Paul, all of the law groups involved—including the Department of Homeland Security who obviously designed this whole thing with the FBI, Secret Service, both county sheriff’s offices, both cities’ police departments—aided by that $50 millions the feds gave the city.
I’m hoping all the speeches of today are streaming—or at least that the texts will soon be available. I’d love to hear what Cindy Sheehan had to say about all this.
Sue the bastards! That’s the only thing they understand and you-all have so much photo footage. More than they did in the NYC convention 4 years ago.
Know that 15 impeachment pickets from PDX are pulling for you, Jodin. God bless you!! And keep on keepin’ on. You’all are inspiring the rest of us to work even harder for impeachment.
Barbara
Comment by Barbara Ellis — September 4, 2008 @ 11:48 pm
I just love this classic commie comment:
[Ed. note: Why is it that everyone who you disagree with is a "commie"? Do you really believe that every single protester that marched on the RNC was a commie? Are you, in fact, that naive?]
And with that, she walked to the gate, escorted by supporters who sang: “I went back to the rich man’s home and took back what the rich man stole…â€
Then this gem:
One protester, betraying dashed hopes for a clash, struck a street sign with his open hand and stormed off.
Hopes for a clash? I’m sorry, but hoping for a clash with the police doesn’t sound peaceful or non-violent to me. Am I missing something here?
What? Didn’t anybody inform him Joe Strummer is dead and there would be no Clash? Somebody call a Decembrist!
Boy, that sums it up. Bring people in wheelchairs and infants for human shields and then hope for a clash with the polce. Is this the Hope everybody has been blathering abount?
How many in wheelchairs and how many infants were hit with rubber bullets?
None.
From all the evidence seen, only “in you face brick tossing punks” got zapped.
Boo hoo!
I think it’s so quaint and homespun that the local anarchists decided to attack convention goers by dropping concrete sacks off of overpasses onto buses.
[Ed. Note: Actually, there was a single incident of one man - not a local, and since arrested - dropping a concrete sack off of a freeway overpass. There were not multiple instances of this occuring.]
Sweet! Attempted murder…no wait, I think that’s free speech.
[Ed. Note: No, you were right the first time. It is a felony and has absolutely nothing to do with free speech.]
Then they went around and smashed police car windows with ballpeen hammers and hand maulers. Cute! Vandalism and destroying public (taxpayer) property….oops, wrong again. That was free speech too!
[Ed. Note: No, again, you were right the first time. Those are petty crimes of vandalism and have absolutely nothing to do with free speech.]
Yes, of course the evil police over reacted. Those are normal, every day, non-violent activities.
[Ed. Note: Nobody outside of Chubby's deluded mind is trying to justify the actions of these criminals. The police did as they should do in apprehending the 'perps' in these cases. The actual topic - should Chubby's active imagination every wander back to reality - are the cases in which innocent, law-abiding protesters were falsely arrested, tear-gassed, assaulted with concussion grenades, shot with rubber bullets, beaten, had personal property taken from them illegally, had their houses broken into without possession of a warrant, had their children terrorized by the unnecessarily overly aggressive actions of over-the-top, out-sized groups of riot cops and were denied medical attention, food and use of toilet facilities while detained. THAT is the topic. Care to address these facts, Oh Chubbiest of the Chubby, or would you rather remain in your own little fantasy world where commies lurk behind every protest sign, the police are perfect beings and every liberal is a criminal?]
Plenty of pictures of that kind of stuff Barbara and Cynthia.
Sorry if it doesn’t fit into your narrow world view.
Comment by Chubby Huggs — September 29, 2008 @ 5:24 am
“From all the evidence seen, only “in you face brick tossing punks” got zapped.”
You are ignoring the mountain of evidence that we have made available on this site through video, photographs and personal testimony. Three or four years from now when all the court cases have run their course and the City of St. Paul has been ordered to pay out millions of dollars in damages – just as the City of New York is having to do right now – you will be proven wrong. Too bad your blinders are so thick you can’t see the truth from here.
“…local anarchists decided to attack convention goers by dropping concrete sacks off of overpasses onto buses.”
Actually that guy wasn’t local. He came in from out of town. He was identified from photographs that revealed identifying tattoos. I, and every person associated with ImpeachforPeace are grateful nobody was hurt by his actions, that he was caught and that hope he will serve many, many years in federal prison for his atrocious actions. Nobody, except you and a couple of your troll buddies support his actions. In attempting to tie him in with the thousands of entirely peaceful protesters you are employing ‘guilt by association’, which is overly simplistic and specious, at best. I hope that someday your intellect will mature to the point where the distinctions between law-abiding dissidents and criminals such as this man will cease.
Try really, really hard to make the rational distinction between those who engaged in legal, permitted acts of First Amendment-protected free speech – but were harassed and abused by police improperly – and those whose criminal actions warranted their arrests and upcoming prosectution.
I know it is a lot to ask from you, Chubby… but try really, really hard this time.
Comment by Mikael — September 29, 2008 @ 9:26 am
Then why in the fuck were these retards allowed to join the “peaceful” march?
[Chubby, in his deluded state (and not very politically correct for a mental health professional), assumes that the hundreds of protesters are in constant communication, that all violent criminals inform everyone they are marching with of their violent intentions and the we of ImpeachforPeace.org are somehow responsible for the behavior of every protester who shows up at a march.]
Because they’re your kindred souls.
[Note the quantum leap in his assumption here.]
You even put up a video of these nutcases that was set to the Blondie tune “One Way or Another”
[Chubby's obsession with 'the left' has him watching every peripheral YouTube video that he disagrees with and then tagging it onto those the people he disagrees with as if some sort of 'liberal consensus' that supports every single critical thing written about the Bush Administration he worships has been pre-arranged.]
Oh…that’s just “street theater”…how amusing.
How about the elderly delegate that had bleach splashed in her face.
[That's the first we've heard about that one, Chub-a-lub. I am sure you'll be happy to provide the link to this story?]
I guess she had it coming, huh?
Oh, you’d never do that, but one of your associates would.
You didn’t see any Republicans at either convention smashing and destroying things…it was your buddies.
[Republicans don't smash and destroy things. They pay other people to do that for them - in Iraq, Afghanistan, New Orleans and in various houses around the Twin Cities prior to the RNC.]
Yeah, right.
Huh? what’s your lame excuse in condoning this?
[Earth to the Chubbiest of all the chubbies... NOBODY CONDONED THIS. YOU ARE IN YOUR OWN DELUSIONAL FANTASY-LAND AGAIN. Are you off of your meds? It is obvious you are off of your feedbag.]
Personal property? What? A cell phone that any idiot could have dropped?
The person with the bike peddled away.
Warrants?…the warrants were published in the newspapers and the internet.
[Some warrants were not served upon entry and securing of the scene - as dictated by law. Some locations never saw warrants and at least one was issued for the wrong address - the other side of a duplex. The problem is not so much with the behavior of the officers on duty - although some were out of line - the problem is with the higher-ups who ordered unconstitutional searches and designed preemptive assaults and suppression of lawfully assembled protesters.]
[Personal attack deleted].
[Give it a rest, Flubby. You really need some time off.]
Comment by chubby huggs — September 29, 2008 @ 1:13 pm
Here is an article from the moderate Minneapolis Star Tribune that makes clear there were falsehoods in at least one pre-RNC raid search warrant:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/29920529.html
Comment by Mikael — September 30, 2008 @ 8:38 am
8. I just love this classic commie comment:
[Ed. note: Why is it that everyone who you disagree with is a "commie"? Do you really believe that every single protester that marched on the RNC was a commie? Are you, in fact, that naive?]
And with that, she walked to the gate, escorted by supporters who sang: “I went back to the rich man’s home and took back what the rich man stole…â€
Mikael, that is the classic Marxist view. The rich stole what they have because they exploited the labor of the working classes. Or, Marxist-Leninist: the rich stole what they have through the inflicting of imperialism on the the third world.
In Chubby’s defense, Mikael, he didn’t say everyone there was a communist – he said that “I went back to the rich man’s home and took back what the rich man stole…†was a classic commie comment. Not even close to the same ting as you accused him of.
Comment by margaret — September 30, 2008 @ 2:47 pm
Margaret,
As a Christian who believes that a studied combination of Capitalism with Strong Social Services (Socialism?) and very, very strong oversight regulation from those who represent us in Congress along with constant forced transparency by a truly independent journalistic media is the ideal system of government, I grow weary of the simplistic classification of liberals/progressives/Democrats as communists.
It is a weak-minded, shallow, childish view, just as calling all conservative/Right Wing/Republicans fascists or Nazis is. Both are lame excuses for dialogue and do nothing to forward the discussion on this site or the public discourse in general.
Chubby has a tendency to wander in and out of coherency with his writing, so it is no surprise if his intent was lost on me.
Congratulations on a post that contained no personal attacks and actually addressed an issue.
Comment by Mikael — September 30, 2008 @ 5:16 pm
Well…
“It is a weak-minded, shallow, childish view, just as calling all conservative/Right Wing/Republicans fascists or Nazis is. Both are lame excuses for dialogue and do nothing to forward the discussion on this site or the public discourse in general.”
And just how mant times have you called a Republican a “Nazi”?
I’ve lost count.
Comment by Chubby Huggs — September 30, 2008 @ 7:27 pm
Not all Republicans are Nazi-like and I have never said that.
Bush and Hitler have many similarities including lack of ability to listen to advisors or anyone who knows more than he, initiating wars of aggression for empire-building, lying to their own people in order to do so, believing it a Christian Crusade, propping up a strawman enemy to drum up hatred, manipulation/control of the media, using a terrorist event to galvanize public opinion (the Nazi one for sure was a false flag operation, the jury is still out on the NeoCon one), placing party unity over national interest, jingoistic slogans, worshiping the flag, neutralizing of the Congress/Parliament, flooding of the courts with loyalists, suspension of habeas corpus, persecution of and illegal roundups and detainment of a particular race of people, torture camps, martial law crackdowns, suppression of dissent, ridiculing of differing beliefs … it goes on and on…
THE APPLE DOESN’T FALL THAT FAR FROM THE TREE:
This is no coincidence since W’s Grandfather Prescott Bush was a Nazi sympathizer and actually had to be forced by President Roosevelt to stop doing business with the Nazis once the war began. Of course ESSO continued to profit from both sides, and the prevalence of ESSO signs in Germany from photographs that came out after the war forced them to change their name to EXXON. Coca-Cola profited on both sides of the war by selling Fanta in Germany.
Coke, It’s the Real Thing.. feeling sick yet?
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-food/coca_cola.htm
If you really want to attack “commies” like sick bastard Joe McCarthy did in the fifties (and the Nazis did in the thirties) you are welcome to go after the leadership of World Can’t Wait, many of whom are unabashed communists. They can handle it, they believe that Communism is the best system, a belief I don’t share and the vast majority of “leftists” don’t either.
At least then you aren’t spending hour after hour shadowboxing and pretending you are actually in the ring. Just please stop wasting our time and my time and your own time by calling all liberals communists.
It is just plain stupid and I have lost patience with it, with you and with every myopic commenter on this site that runs down that pathetic line of thinking.
I just want people to open their eyes, turn off the corporate media and the partisan hack voices, learn their history and start working to attempt to restore America to the promise of greatness that I grew up with.
Is that really too much to ask?
Comment by Mikael — September 30, 2008 @ 10:56 pm
[15. Just please stop wasting our time and my time and your own time by calling all liberals communists.]
He didn’t call all liberals communists, he made a simple comment on the sentence: “I went back to the rich man’s home and took back what the rich man stole…â€
What he said is very easy to see. However, you’ve taken what he said and turned it into something that it isn’t. Do you often do that, Mikael? Do you often take what people say and twist it around like that?
And then when he asks you “How many times have you called a Republican a “Nazi,” you reply by calling the President of the United States a Nazi. And his father too!
So, in answer to the question, “How many times have you called a Republican a “Nazi?” – we’ll just mark it down: “Often.”
Comment by margaret — October 1, 2008 @ 9:10 am
Apparently it was too much to ask – at least for Margaret.
I wasn’t simply referring to this single post by the adorable Mr. Huggies. He has a long history of grouping all liberals into a single barrel called: “commie”.
I didn’t CALL Bush and his Grandfather Nazis. I laid out very clear, factual, historically accurate comparisons and records that left you to come to your own conclusions.
It is YOUR world Margaret that dumbs down dialogue into simplistic labeling and name-calling. It is inaccurate for you to attempt to label me in such a juvenile fashion, but I can’t raise your level of understanding, that is up to you if you choose.
I cannot continue to waste my time interacting with those incapable of the most basic level of reading comprehension without getting paid to teach anymore, sorry.
Comment by Mikael — October 1, 2008 @ 1:21 pm
[Margaret reverts to old form, apparently incapable of staying away from personal attacks as she has so little factual basis upon which to stand.]
Comment by margaret — October 1, 2008 @ 2:22 pm
[Another feeble attempt at a personal attack is deleted.]
Comment by margaret — October 1, 2008 @ 4:26 pm
Give it up, Margaret, you aren’t capable of communicating without personally attacks. You really need to just stop.
Comment by Mikael — October 1, 2008 @ 6:31 pm
I managed to see some of what Margaret posted before you deleted them.
She pointed out that you have taken what was posted in this thread by herself and Chubby Huggs and distorted it to the point it was nothing like what was when it started out.
Why is it that when someone points out either one of your defects or a flaw in one of your arguments you delete the post and then proclaim that it is a “personal attack”?
Suck up a spine, stand your ground like a man, and respond back to her, Chubby Huggs, and myself, with a rational, well reasoned, counter-argument!
–
Comment by Cold Warrior — October 2, 2008 @ 4:22 pm
This from CW:
“I managed to see some of what Margaret posted before you deleted them.
She pointed out that you have taken what was posted in this thread by herself and Chubby Huggs and distorted it to the point it was nothing like what was when it started out.”
Oh really? Have you, she or Huggies said anything of substance worth responding to? It is difficult for me to keep track when two out of every three of your attempts to post are inappropriate due to personal attacks and have to be deleted.
Why is it that when someone points out either one of your defects or a flaw in one of your arguments you delete the post and then proclaim that it is a “personal attack”?
You are lying. Comments that contain personal attacks are deleted. I have no problem considering other points of view and responding to them. I am engaged in a number of honest, open debates on this forum with people who are capable of maintaining their adulthood while typing. I hope you join them. Your history of posts here and attempted posts shows that to be fairly unlikely. You have even threatened bodily harm to people in our organization at time that had to be reported to the authorities. You should be grateful we allow you to post at all from here on.
“Suck up a spine, stand your ground like a man, and respond back to her, Chubby Huggs, and myself, with a rational, well reasoned, counter-argument!”
I am not sure what it would take to “suck up a spine.” I am a carnivore, but generally do not eat the bones of the fish and meat that make up part of my meals.
I am sitting, which is where I usually am when I am typing, so I must ignore your petty command to “stand your ground”. I am not moving, and I will continue to respond as appropriate to whatever appears on this blog. The problem is that the appropriate response to many of your posts and those of Huggies and Ms. Haliburton is to delete them because they aren’t worthy of publication. You three just need to up your level of discourse and your comments will remain posted. Ms. Haliburton has shown some promise to be capable of this, but had a recent bout of recidivism and had to be deleted. She is welcome to attempt to post as an adult again when she is ready.
This really is like raising children. I spend most of my time with you three explaining the rules over and over and over again. I would really appreciate it if you would just grow up and act like adults from now on. That would make my job so much easier.
I will respond to every rational, well-reasoned post that I deem worthy of response. Did you have anything to say along the lines of the topic of this thread? I don’t see that anywhere. Again, you are lying if you say that I have deleted anything pertinent. I have only deleted comments containing personal attacks or threats. That is consistent with the policy of this blog. Public figures are fair game, individual citizens are not. I am no longer going to waste my time distracted by your, Ms. Haliburton or Huggies’ senseless rants. I have no time for your childishness.
Comment by Mikael — October 3, 2008 @ 5:25 pm