By Kevin Gosztola
Within two hours of being here in St.
Paul, I witnessed tear gassing, pepper spraying, and concussion grenade
firing. I had never seen police use any of this on protestors before
and for myself, I sadly must admit that I felt this desensitization
and wondered what to do next.
Strangely, I did not think about the
people who could not see out of their eyes and who were running or walking
quickly towards me. I just wondered what had started it all as if a
person had something to do with the police deciding to fire upon protesters.
Also, the incident that broke out between
protesters and police happened as people were leaving a march down to
Xcel Energy Center. To me, the fact that protesters were not attempting
to communicate a message when the police fired upon them affected how
I took in the situation.
At about 6:30 pm, I was down in front
of the St. Paul capitol building where people had gathered expecting
Rage Against the Machine to perform. IVAW members, press, and others
were hanging out waiting for Rage Against the Machine to come on stage.
The police went behind the stage and
informed those handling the concert plans that Rage Against the Machine
would not be allowed to play. A standoff occurred between protest event
staff (Members of Ripple Effect?) and police that the press swooped
in to capture.
Rage Against the Machine were denied.
Upon denial, the band and Boots Riley from The Coup made their way through
the crowd and came around to the front of the stage. The band began
to chant verses of their songs with the crowd and offer their take on
the situation between the protesters and police in St. Paul.
The band then led the people out into
the street. They peeled off and went back to the stage as the Poor People’s
Campaign led what I believe was a spontaneous march down to the Xcel
Energy Center.
Along the way, I took notice of the riot
police, National Guard, and bicycle cops I walked past. Compared to
Denver, nothing looked too out of the ordinary except for the fact that
the National Guard was on the streets in St. Paul. In Denver, the National
Guard pretty much stayed put at Johnson & Wales ready to deploy
when needed.
The march of about 1,500 to 2,000 made
its way down to the Xcel Energy Center relatively smoothly with few
problems from police. But, at this point in the game, the sight of police
in riot gear is enough to evoke disgust in the minds of the people.
Leaders of the Poor People’s Campaign
took charge down in front of the Xcel Energy Center declaring that they
were here to deliver a citizen’s arrest for Bush and were charging
him with crimes against humanity.
The leader led people in a pledge that
others would let her go risk arrest as she delivered the citizen’s
arrest and not crowd around creating a riot situation with police that
could potentially harm newborn babies and adults with disabilities.
The leader made her way to the fence
and asked a cop to take the citizen’s arrest and deliver it. She was
refused. She moved down to another end and attempted another time. She
was refused.
All of this seemed to be a little bit
naïve to me and like something out of fantasyland. But, with press
there, a stunt like this did have the effect I think the campaign was
aiming for.
The Poor People’s Campaign came together
with a sense of demoralization, talked about sadness, sang a song of
freedom, and then thanked people for being peaceful. The march and action
was over. So we thought.
I must pause for a moment and say that
I have been to enough of these protest actions now to know that the
endings of actions have a way of turning into a situation where the
police are guaranteed to do something that makes the action more interesting
than it really was.
For example, each time you walk by a
street with the hundreds of people you are with who are trying to find
a way out of the cage the police just marched you into, you see police
in riot gear run up to the street and block it off so that you cannot
splinter off and lead a snake march or something of your own creation
after the action is over.
So, you keep walking and in many cases
end up walking back to where the march began.
Tonight, as people were heading back
to their cars, everybody came to a turn where the Poor People’s Campaign
leaders left the march to go to where they were parked. They splintered
off and walked down a street that the riot police quickly blocked off
after Poor People’s Campaign members were through.
Now, what were left were the stereotypical
protesters—the kind that can be easily marginalized in the press.
You know, the ones that bring gear like gas masks and goggles to protect
themselves and wear black bandanas to hide their identity from the police.
Mixed in were some people who were less
interested in challenging police and who were more interested in ogling
at the police’s weaponry, but most stopped and stalled on the street
ready to take on whatever the police planned to do.
A report that can neither be confirmed
nor denied suggests that a police officer said, “Let’s go in for
the kill! I’m sick of this shit.” And then, all hell broke loose
with tear gas being fired and then down the street a ways concussion
grenades were fired.
The National Guard was spotted throwing
gas in front of protesters as they ran away from police who were firing.
A state of shock came over the group
that had been trying to just leave and go home. Nothing happened to
warrant any firing of anything.
Medic teams came in to assist those with
spray in their eyes. People headed quickly away from the scene and back
to the capitol to leave.
I’m not sure what the effect of this
will be. A lot of this type of thing has been happening since Sunday.
Police have been doing whatever they damn well please with tacit support
from the mayor of St. Paul.
That’s the key difference between Denver
security during the DNC and St. Paul security during the RNC—Police
in St. Paul are less patient with protestors.
Nothing is stopping them from firing
off tear gas, pepper spray, concussion grenades, or anything else that
may be used for “crowd control.”
Whatever kept police under control in
Denver isn’t keeping police under control here.
Kevin Gosztola goes to Columbia College
in Chicago where he is studying film. He hopes to become a documentary
filmmaker. He is currently working as a production assistant on a documentary
called “Seriously Green” which traces the development of the
Green Party throughout the 2008 election.