Can be found here.
Quote:
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff’s department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than “fire code violations,” and early this morning, the Sheriff’s department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Jane Hamsher and I were at two of those homes this morning — one which had just been raided and one which was in the process of being raided. Each of the raided houses is known by neighbors as a “hippie house,” where 5-10 college-aged individuals live in a communal setting, and everyone we spoke with said that there had never been any problems of any kind in those houses, that they were filled with “peaceful kids” who are politically active but entirely unthreatening and friendly. Posted below is the video of the scene, including various interviews, which convey a very clear sense of what is actually going on here.
In the house that had just been raided, those inside described how a team of roughly 25 officers had barged into their homes with masks and black swat gear, holding large semi-automatic rifles, and ordered them to lie on the floor, where they were handcuffed and ordered not to move. The officers refused to state why they were there and, until the very end, refused to show whether they had a search warrant. They were forced to remain on the floor for 45 minutes while the officers took away the laptops, computers, individual journals, and political materials kept in the house. One of the individuals renting the house, an 18-year-old woman, was extremely shaken as she and others described how the officers were deliberately making intimidating statements such as “Do you have Terminator ready?” as they lay on the floor in handcuffs. The 10 or so individuals in the house all said that though they found the experience very jarring, they still intended to protest against the GOP Convention, and several said that being subjected to raids of that sort made them more emboldened than ever to do so.
I honestly have to wonder, do we live in the United States of America or do we live in Soviet Russia? This will be a black mark on the Republican Party, the City of Minneapolis and the State of Minnesota. It is this sort of idiotic nonsense that gives people like Alex Jones the fuel to fan the propaganda that loves to spread and profit from.
This is one of the simple reasons why I tend to avoid these sort of gatherings. Bad information does get passed and police do make mistakes. As the saying goes, I feel it is better to stay safe, than be sorry.
What happened here, as far as I am concerned, is nothing short of the repression of freedom of speech. It is wrong and I am, quite frankly, surprised that more Conservatives are not raising the roof about it. I realize that some of these people who were raided, might of the Liberal political mindset. But, to attempt to suppress the political discourse and to attempt to quell any sort of a demonstration, goes totally against the Constitution of the United States of America.
I have to honestly wonder, what would President Ronald Reagan say or think, if he were alive to see this sort of brutal abuse of Governmental power. I honestly believe that he would be horrified.
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