http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/A4CE375042FC097E862 56D280072957D?OpenDocument&Headline=Police+raid+three+buildings,+detain+oc cupants
Police raid three buildings, detain occupants By Heather Ratcliffe Post-Dispatch updated: 05/16/2003 03:57 PM St. Louis police detained an undisclosed number of people Friday in a sweep of at least three buildings said to be used by protesters of the World Agricultural Forum, which starts here Sunday. In at least some cases, officers were accompanied by building inspectors who checked for occupancy permits and building code compliance. Police Chief Joe Mokwa promised an explanation in a press conference at 3:45 p.m. One police source said about 15 people were in custody from various locations. Included was a building at 3022 Cherokee Street that houses Gateway Green, sponsor of a conference called Biodevastation 7. It is a gathering of activists, meeting this weekend at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, intending the counter the conference of world agricultural leaders at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Union Station. Also raided were two houses in the 3300 block of Illinois Avenue. One woman was arrested, her companions said, when police stopped a van and confiscated pills in an unmarked container that she said were vitamins. An occupant of the van said they were videotaped by people in plain clothes who accompanied officers. The sweep started about 11:30 a.m. and continued into the afternoon. People who identified themselves as protesters said police had been stopping them in recent days for riding bicycles without helmets or driving vehicles with burned-out lights. Brian Tokar, one of the organizers of the Biodevastation 7 conference, said that there has been no violence at other Biodevastation meetings that coincide with World Agriculture Forums because the forums -- unlike meetings of the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund or World Bank -- do not enact policies that affect farmers and consumers. He said St. Louis police are overreacting and inflating the number of people who will protest. "We've been doing these events for years," he said. "Every year in the U.S. we've gotten these insane, inflammatory issues from the police. It's to inflame public passion and to prvent public discussion of the dangers of agribusiness." Matt LeMieux, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, said his office received about two dozen phone calls in two hours Friday about conference attendees being arrested. "I think if the police are going to conduct searchees and arrest people, it ought to be based on current conduct of what a person is doing now," he said. "But what they're doing is pre-emptively trying to arrest people. It's a bad and unconstitutional policy." He said he was told that in one instance, at the home of some "local, grass-roots activists" where some protesters were lodging, police showed up with a building inspector and said they both must be let in or the building would be condemned. LeMieux termed the threat a "trick" that enables police to search a home without a warrant. Of the St. Louis police, he said, "I think they've gotten some pretty bad advice from police departments in other cities where these protests have taken place. Instead of contacting the protest organizers and making sure the violent elements are kept out, they went the other direction." _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
