What ARE we going to do about these renegades in the streets of Minneapolis. What sort of hammer hangs over the heads of civilian authorities that prevents them from putting a stop to this inexcusable abuse of police powers and an increasing intolerance for anything smacking of public defiance over their abusive exercise of power in the streets.
No one should excuse a bunch of drunks on a rampage, but these reports coming out of Dinkytown are universally about abuse. >From a posting at IndyMedia U of M "Riot" Continues until 5am by Luke Engan 5:32am Sun Apr 7 '02 (Modified on 10:42am Sun Apr 7 '02) address: 1721 University Av SE, Mpls MN 55414 phone: 612.331.1020 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minneapolis Police Officers challenge, provoke celebratory students in a violent encounter Outdoor crowds celebrating a sporting victory outside the Library were pepper sprayed, billy clubbed, and tear gassed numerous times by a large police assembly early Sunday morning. I missed the riot's earlier hours, but around roughly 1am, a police line formed on 4th St at 15th Ave, facing west toward Dinkytown. Citizens were not allowed to use the sidewalks or drive the street. Three individuals standing in the center of the road near the Purple Onion were flanked by approximately 8 officers in full riot gear, who had approached from the north on 14th Ave. The individuals were beaten to the ground, and taken behind police lines. There was no noticeable provocation on the part of the students. This line also performed several advances, tear gassing the entire region of Dinkytown and pepper spraying students in the eyes. Later, a detachment of officers left that line to form another on University Ave facing east, near 16th Ave where students had started a large fire on the pavement. One officer doused the fire while others raised their clubs at the students who had gathered in response to the riot gear. A student I live with, who is a photojournalism student, was photographing several students being beaten in the street in front of our residence. Some officers beat him to the pavement and smashed his camera. He was handcuffed, led down the center of the street in front of the crowd, and taken into custody. I saw one student whose face was bloodied from a billy club. My camera was out of film. As I stood on my front lawn, photographing the events, one woman in riot gear ordered me to vacate the lawn. She entered my property and said that if I lived there, I had to go inside. She and others repeatedly ordered students off of front lawns. I joined several friends on the porch, where we exchanged words with a group of officers who had gathered on the street nearby. One man, overweight with light hair, said "we don't need a warrant" in our direction. I inquired about his badge number from approximately 30 feet, and his response was "I can't hear you". When the police line formed across University, next to the Bell Museum, there were three students dancing in the center of the road. One was later led into custody with his pants around his ankles. I set my video camera facing out of my residence. I trained it on the officers, and chanted to get their attention. After standing near a squad car for some minutes, the remaining officers dispersed. --- Police, student revelers meet in the streets after U hockey wins by Christopher Loch 1:28am Sun Apr 7 '02 (Modified on 1:37am Sun Apr 7 '02) [EMAIL PROTECTED] After the University of Minnesota hockey team won the national championship last night, hundreds of students hit the streets of Dinkytown to celebrate and were confronted and the University Police. At least a couple hundred hockey fans (possibly several hundred campus-wide, but likely less than one thousand total), most male and many drunk, took to the streets immediately following the overtime victory of the Gophers. Massing in the streets at the intersections of 15th Avenue and University, 13th Avenue and 4th Street, and reveling all about the East Bank campus and Dinkytown, the students raucously celebrated, stopping traffic and turning over corporate media newspaper dispensing machines. After an hour or so, with uniformed police on the scene almost immediately, a troop of helmet and stick donning police confronted students at 13th Avenue and 4th Street. Many students were pepper sprayed and several were assaulted with the sticks and knocked to the ground when they failed to disperse from the streets and began to mouth off to police. After the police got rough, one officer was hit on the (helmeted) head by a lobbed beer bottle, and many bottles, snowballs and chunks of asphalt were lobbed towards the helmeted cops and cop cars. There were many anti-police statements shouted towards the police and even plenty of machismo taunting on the part of male revelers. This indy source just happened to be in the streets participating in some street poetry (making use of a PA system and microphone and an electrical outlet on a tree) with several others who had arrived at their normal Saturday night haunt only to find it closed, and who had decided to do a spontaneous outdoor session. One hockey fan I talked with, at 13th and 4th pointed out that he thought most riot situations are actually caused by police over-reacting to people in the streets. In fact, I saw several people pepper-sprayed who just happened to be present but weren't doing anything raucous, and this did cause them and their friends to become activated and confrontational with police. Also, the throwing of things at police didn't seem to start until after the police had been rough with the revelers. I asked one police officer if they had prepared for the possibility of riotous behavior should the Gophers win, and he replied "No, we were watching the game." I also asked what he thought about the melee, and he said "Well, you've got to expect it." He then went on to say that it was all right so long as it didn't get too out of control. It's interesting that rioting frat boys and sports fans is legitimate in the eyes of this authority figure and exercising constitutional rights to protest for political causes is often considered illegitimate by the authorities (ISAG, etc.)-though the recent Jeillani march was unrestricted and not accosted by police, but rather they helped direct traffic away from the march. I asked (with tongue in cheek) another officer if those who were lobbing things at police could be considered terrorists, and he replied that it was debatable. A student nearby, who told me that he wanted to be a cop or maybe work for the FBI, said that he thought they might well be considered terrorists in the current state of things in the U.S. He further stated that he thought the label of terrorist has been misused and devalued since September 11th, with many who clearly shouldn't be classified as terrorists being classified as such. Police remained on the streets well after bar closing at 1am, as did many roaming but less confrontational students still full of energy (and alcohol). The block of 4th Street between 14th Avenue and 13th remained completely locked down after I left at 1:30am. Andy -------- "I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of the country." --- Thomas Jefferson,1816 _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
