I just saw this article on the Strib site: 
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3773667.html

While I didn't closely observe the Thursday night antiwar protests in 
downtown Minneapolis, I did catch the Friday morning march on my way into 
work. It sounds (and looked to me) like a lot of good work has been done 
on both the part of protest organizers and police leaders to get to a 
point where these protests can only be called a success (not that the war 
stopped, but that the protest did as much as it could to peaceably deliver 
it's message).

The list has seemed to hold a lot of criticism of Mayor Rybak for a lot of 
things, but I wonder if his leadership and the relationship between the 
Mayor's office and the Police Dept. haven't done a lot to make these 
events more positive for everyone. Remember how the last Mayor let the 
police handle Critical Mass rides and the conference of genetic 
manipulators?

That the protestors and police seemed to have learned to get along is 
encouraging to me. Yes, there was obviously some tension, but I think 
protests trying to stay out of bike and bus lanes and police keeping 
everyone safe from traffic incidents is progress.

Some cities, like San Francisco, haven't had nearly this kind of restraint 
on either side and all that's really resulted is a lot more stress for 
everyone at a time when we could all use less of it.

Good work Minneapolis.

  - Michael Libby (Cleveland neighborhood)

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