Police spokesman Tom Walsh denies any connection between the arrival of the Tasers and the upcoming RNC. "They are not related to the convention in any way," says Walsh. "A patrol officer suggested months ago that we supply our force with Tasers."
But some demonstrators are wary of such assurances.
"Our concern is that they'll have them and that they'll use them," says Marie Braun, a member of Women Against Military Madness, which has received a permit to protest in a St. Paul park on Sept. 1. "These are dangerous weapons and people have died as a result of them being used."
Four years ago at the RNC in New York, the New York Police Department (NYPD) arrested thousands of demonstrators, holding many of them in an asbestos-filled pier on the Hudson River until the convention's conclusion.
And at an impromptu mass march toward Madison Square Ground where President Bush's re-election fest was being held, an NYPD officer in civilian clothing reportedly provoked a fight by driving a scooter into the crowd.
St. Paul Assistant Police Chief Matt Bostrom told the online newspaper MinnPost.com in December that no St. Paul police officers would infiltrate protest organizations, and the force will dress in regular uniforms - not riot gear - during the convention.
And spokesman Walsh insists that the department will patrol the streets of St. Paul without help from contract cops or the Secret Service, who will operate only inside the Xcel Energy Center where the convention will take place.
Nevertheless, an underground anarchist group that calls itself the "RNC Welcoming Committee" states on its website that "the RNC, local police and federal agents are likely to get violent."
The group and other activists cite a Critical Mass bike ride last August in neighboring Minneapolis that led to police using Tasers and pepper spray to break up the event and arrest 19 protesters. The gathering coincided with what the Welcoming Committee calls the "pReNC, a weekend of radical organizing in preparation for the RNC."
During the subsequent trial of one cyclist, Minneapolis police Sgt. David Stichter reportedly testified that the department had created a task force to monitor Critical Mass because it knew RNC protesters would participate in the ride.
"[They have been] taking every opportunity to try and intimidate the people who live here," says an activist using the name "Diablo Bush," referring to the local police.
On March 13, the Welcoming Committee's website began requesting Taser donations. So far it has received none, according to an e-mail message to In These Times from Diablo Bush. "Any Tasers we do receive would be simply for day-to-day maintenance of public safety," jokes Diablo, "and are not at all related to the RNC - just like the St. Paul Police Department's order [of Tasers]."
In May, the Twin Cities' alternative-weekly, City Pages, reported that University of Minnesota police were working with an FBI special agent to recruit "moles" to attend vegan potlucks, gain the trust of RNC protesters and report back to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between federal agencies and local police.
Last summer, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the nearby Ramsey County Sheriff's office was preparing to construct pens to hold 5,000 arrested protesters - a report Bostrom of the St. Paul police claimed was news to him.
Says Braun of Women Against Military Madness: "We have as much concern about the police as anyone, because when we look at political conventions in the past, it's often the police that have a history of overreacting."
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- goldenways
- added this
- added August 06, 2008
- flag
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The number one contributor to violence during protests is the police themselves. I even watched a police officer pushing an old lady from code pink during the March 19 2008 protest of the Iraq war. After I "asked" him if he would do that to his own mother he stopped. Bring your cameras videotape everything, only we can bring light to the erosion of our constitution.
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- regjoeschmo
- 5 months ago
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The time has come when I am more afraid of our government than I am of terrorists, more afraid of police than I am of criminals. Up is down and fact is fiction these days. The police ARE the bad guys.
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It's OK, they are a dying breed. They live in fear. Let them have their little stun guns and don't give them any of your energy. Step back and laugh at how childish they are.
You only live once, (in this era) DON'T PLAY THEIR GAME.
How can you be in fear of people that are afraid of everyone else?
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G reedy
O ligarcharian
P arioid schizos
...need any more proof.-
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- patient215norcal
- 5 months ago
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If you decide to go to either convention make sure there are plenty of cameras around. Don't get caught up in the mob mentality. We have the right to protest. We do not have the right to riot. Be very carefull. Don't become the innocent bystander that makes the six o'clock news by being seriously injured or worse. Focus and vote.
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- bluestranger
- 5 months ago
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"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
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My own small contribution to the taser debate
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ill be moving into the twin cities right before the Republican national convention for college and i sure as hell hope i dont get tasered
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Now sign this confession or we'll shoot you with the taser."
"That's torture, it is prohibited by the Constitution."
"That's alright, GW Bush got laws passed that say we don't have to abide by the Constitution. The Patriot Act, and another one to allow torture---just to keep our options on the table. You don't have any rights under the Constitution."
"But the Patriot Act is only for terrorist suspects, I'm not a terrorist."
"You are if we say you are, you are a terrorist suspect. There, now you are a terrorist, we can do whatever we want. You don't have any rights under the Constitution."
"Now sign the confession or I will shoot you with this taser until you do."
Two Hundred years of freedom and fighting tyrany out the window. And it wasn't Saddam Hussien, Adolf Hitler, Hirohito, Joseph Stalin, or any of a host of other foreign dictators who did it.
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I suppose you could take some small comfort in the fact that its "only" 230 tasers...and not 230 assault rifles, or 230,000 rounds of shotgun ammunition.
Remember, there is a fine line between legitimate, peaceful protest, and mindless, destructive, thuggery.
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I've posted this before but I feel it is applicable again here. Check out the video at this link of these future weapons that the police seem more than excited to use the moment anyone steps out of line. Yo won't just be hit with a taser, you might be gooed OR microwaved! I feel like they WANT it to be another Seattle 1999.
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- whocontrolstheworld
- 5 months ago
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Are deaths by tazers higher or lower than deaths by guns for police?
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Speaking as someone who has been hit by a taser (...I was "volunteered" for a test, in case you were wondering), I can tell you that it feels like sticking a fork into an electrical outlet...except all over your body.
But, as you probably have guessed by now, I survived the experience with minimal damage...and a healthy respect for its capabilities as a "less than lethal" weapon.
Yes, it is possible that a person can die when a taser is used on them, and some of those deaths have been well documented both here and elsewhere on the Internet. But you would have to be under the age of ten, over the age of 65, or suffer from some sort of heart condition in order for death to become a serious concern.
Still, I wouldn't recommend throwing yourselves in front one to test this theory out mind you...
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I'll never understand the joy and excitement some people feel when they see the government abuse it's power. It's a sickness.
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liberals preach big government
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If you are going to protest prepared for confrontation...ALWAYS. If you think it's just going to be easy because you're allowed by law, think again. When you're being an obnoxious nuisance (because that's what a protester is to those they are protesting against) don't expect to be welcomed with lemonade and hugs of gratefulness.
Don't act like the 8 year old who knows if his older brother hits him he'll get in trouble so you hover around him stating "I'm not touching you" over and over again.....
Because when that fist comes around and knocks you in the face breaking your nose and you hear "How's my touch feel you little cry baby?" know that you provoked it.
There is already aggression in the air. Protest are never peaceful...they are a disturbance of such and one side can look better than the other and it should always be the people that want to make the government look bad.
Don't fight back. Once you fight back.....you deserve what they throw at you.
And if it's even life threatening....don't whine about how dangerous it was...prepare to suffer the ultimate sacrifice for your beliefs.
Don't ever bring up those that put their lives on the line to birth this nation again....if you go OMG I'm in pain they hurt me...because you should KNOW that that would happen. Suffer through it and trek on. Don't make it about you and your broken arm or tasered body. You are part of a bigger picture and surely the pain you suffered is worth it if you believe in the cause.
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We need a stun gun watch page. I can't imagine that the Democratic convention will be "stun-free."
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- Pericles1978
- 5 months ago
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If the police would use the tasers, don't you think they would use them in a responsible way? There have been deaths, but while the main responsibility falls on the police, some responsibility does rest on the shoulders of the deceased. If they weren't compling with police or were disordely and could not be taken down "the old-fashioned way" the police do have the right to use tasers. What happens because of that incident is decided by chance. While this may seem sadistic and harsh, it's the truth.
