Although not as large scale as Monday’s protest, two smaller groups met in downtown St. Paul last night as their respective, and peaceful, events concluded. One was the 1000 person strong Poor Peoples March that started in Mears Park and was sponsored by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Cheri Honkala, leader of the campaign, urged participants to remain pacific, pointing out the large number of children in attendance. She went as far as to single out the anarchists, that she knew had intermixed with the crowd, and said she would hold them personally responsible for any violence that occurred during their event.
As the march made its way down 7th, to the Xcel Center, the crowd suddenly tripled as they were joined by concert-goers leaving the Ripple Effect festival on the State Capitol lawn. It just so happened that Rage Against The Machine showed up, unannounced, to end the show. Police, however, seemingly chose to pull the plug on the concert rather than let the band play. Apparently, they were not included on the permit and the cops felt it was too close to the event’s 7PM curfew to make changes. Until this point, the crowd, who was predominantly hippy, had peacefully burned bundles of sage and grooved to the likes of Matisyahu, Michael Franti and WookieFoot. When RATM was denied access the stage, singer Zach De La Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello successfully riled up the gathering by jumping onto the lawn and leading a cappella versions of old RATM songs. Radio reports of a free Rage show had expanded the crowd to about 2000. Then, the band members started the now en-raged fans in a procession off the Capitol grounds, straight towards the heart of the RNC and the end of the Poor People’s March.
The crowd, which estimates put at 4000 by now, was stopped at the 8 foot fences that cordon off the RNC “security perimeter”. Honkala used a megaphone to chastise the riot police who were there to greet them. "We want to charge the folks that are in the Xcel Energy Center with crimes against humanity" Honkala said as the crowd chanted: “The whole world is watching!" The group peacefully disbanded after no one from the RSC came out to receive the subpoena.
30 minutes later, a smaller crowd of protesters re-formed in the middle of the 7th & St. Peter intersection to block traffic. St. Joseph's Hospital was placed on lockdown from about 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. due to the large protester presence. Police ordered the group to disburse. When they did not, it was declared an “unlawful assembly” and they disbursed the crowd themselves…using tear gas, bean-bag guns and concussion grenades.
Now, I'm not saying things wouldn't have gotten ugly downtown again if RATM did their thing or not (those anarchists are friggin' nutty), but I find it interesting that reports have the band, and the bodyguards that accompanied them, quietly exiting their parade soon after it left the Capitol lawn. Allegedly, people didn't know they weren't following RATM all the way to the RNC. But they can catch Rage when they play their show at the Target Center tonight! Seats are only $60 and available through Ticketmaster.
As the march made its way down 7th, to the Xcel Center, the crowd suddenly tripled as they were joined by concert-goers leaving the Ripple Effect festival on the State Capitol lawn. It just so happened that Rage Against The Machine showed up, unannounced, to end the show. Police, however, seemingly chose to pull the plug on the concert rather than let the band play. Apparently, they were not included on the permit and the cops felt it was too close to the event’s 7PM curfew to make changes. Until this point, the crowd, who was predominantly hippy, had peacefully burned bundles of sage and grooved to the likes of Matisyahu, Michael Franti and WookieFoot. When RATM was denied access the stage, singer Zach De La Rocha and guitarist Tom Morello successfully riled up the gathering by jumping onto the lawn and leading a cappella versions of old RATM songs. Radio reports of a free Rage show had expanded the crowd to about 2000. Then, the band members started the now en-raged fans in a procession off the Capitol grounds, straight towards the heart of the RNC and the end of the Poor People’s March.
The crowd, which estimates put at 4000 by now, was stopped at the 8 foot fences that cordon off the RNC “security perimeter”. Honkala used a megaphone to chastise the riot police who were there to greet them. "We want to charge the folks that are in the Xcel Energy Center with crimes against humanity" Honkala said as the crowd chanted: “The whole world is watching!" The group peacefully disbanded after no one from the RSC came out to receive the subpoena.
30 minutes later, a smaller crowd of protesters re-formed in the middle of the 7th & St. Peter intersection to block traffic. St. Joseph's Hospital was placed on lockdown from about 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. due to the large protester presence. Police ordered the group to disburse. When they did not, it was declared an “unlawful assembly” and they disbursed the crowd themselves…using tear gas, bean-bag guns and concussion grenades.
Now, I'm not saying things wouldn't have gotten ugly downtown again if RATM did their thing or not (those anarchists are friggin' nutty), but I find it interesting that reports have the band, and the bodyguards that accompanied them, quietly exiting their parade soon after it left the Capitol lawn. Allegedly, people didn't know they weren't following RATM all the way to the RNC. But they can catch Rage when they play their show at the Target Center tonight! Seats are only $60 and available through Ticketmaster.
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