Disturbing...

[sleigh]

Well, here's a disturbing article. If true, it seems that a semi-police state is now in effect in Minneapolis, with authorities performing warrantless raids on people and groups anticipated to be protesting at the Republican convention, "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."

The article is rather alarmist, so I have some doubts as to its veracity. Mpls. folks, is this really going on? Any mention of this kind of activity in the papers/news reports?

Comments

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

They have warrants.

Or Else...

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

They get 'em within a couple o' hours. Who's counting amongst friends anyway?

Re: Or Else...

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

There's not much information out there, but every primary source confirms that the warrants were there and the searches and raids at least technically legal.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I followed your link over to Boing Boing, and see that "warrantless" was Xeni's contribution to this thing. She's used unfounded, inflammatory language in the past. I think she is the weak link in the Boing Boing team.

Witness

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

http://permibus.livejournal.com/9468.html

Re: Witness

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

This looks like a traffic stop (perhaps a very unfair one) to me, not "massive warrantless raids."

Re: Witness

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Any way you try to defend it, this is basically a witch hunt. I'm going to assume you're in favor of burning witches too?

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Probably from activist judges... oh those conservatives...

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, digging a little further, it seems the 'warrantless' is hyperbole -- the police seem to have warrants, but aren't showing them initially (which strikes me as odd: aren't they required to show the warrant first, or is that "TV Law"?)

Still, with or without warrants, I find this disturbing, reading some of the reports. This didn't happen in Denver, or (at the very least) not on the same scale. Yes, the Secret Service always takes some precautionary action whenever high-level politicos visit a city, but this seems excessive.

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

I think the issue in question is "excessive force." SWAT teams don't normally knock at the door and show their warrant first, but were these people dangerous enough to need the SWAT team? I doubt it. On the other hand, I am taking it all with a grain of salt because these are people I don't know, and it's possible they really did have violent intentions. I am ready to be outraged about it, but I want more information.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

They weren't warrantless. The warrants are now online at:
http://twincities.indymedia.org/2008/aug/tc-imc-exclusive-complete-search-warrant-minneapolis-raid-today

I am wondering about the judge who signed the warrant, though.

You'll want to listen to the interview by barondave. http://barondave.livejournal.com/180706.html

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

barondave's interview and post are very interesting. Thanks for the link.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

You are listening to a cool band. :)

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they are pretty decent, aren't they? :-)

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. I was wondering if anyone else knew about them. :)

[ellameena.livejournal.com]

Hey, Steven. It's been an extremely busy news week, and it seems to me that stories about the violence at the RNC have been pretty much buried. I had to do a search on google news to find them, but what I found was pretty appalling. There indeed has been quite a bit of armed violence and a number of substantiated arrests, and it turns out the "RNC Welcoming Committee" is a violent anarchist group. This casts their claims of being innocent, peaceful victims in a different light.

If the police had been tipped that there were weapons or violent intentions, then I imagine their rules of engagement mandated the use of SWAT teams, and in light of everything else that is going on with the protests, I don't think I can blame them.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

It has been buried; I've seen nothing much about the protestors at all -- and most of that seemed to have been entirely peaceful (marching with signs, some impromptu speech-making, etc.)

I do agree with you that if the police are told there is weaponry involved or threats of violence, the rules of engagement change, and I have no sympathy whatsoever for violent protests.