Preemptive Police Raids

[frodo]

Just thinking about protesting will get you arrested. This is plain and simple deliberate intimidation. One of the groups raised is a video collective that simply videos protests and documents police bad behaviour.



Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, 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. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.


http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/08/30/police_raids/index.html

[noeyedeer]

Well, if they weren't doing anything wrong, why should they worry? That was the logic behind people not caring about warrentless wiretaps. What's a little abuse of the Constitution to keep us safe from the bogeyman? You really didn't need those rights anyway.

[Sooth]

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, 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. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.
Read this article yesterday and watched the news station video interviews with the neighbors and the kids in this house. And they were just kids. Makes me sick. SWAT Teams in Kevlar and with automatic weapons breaking down doors and STEALING computers, journals and political pamphlets. These CITIZENS will never see their equipment, their property again. The police, THUGS WITH BADGES, have once again hijacked the Constitution.

But, Sooth, They Were Only Following Orders.

The Revolutionary War was fought because THAT King George brought similar thugs to our shores and stole and tortured and maimed and killed the citizenry. The current King George under The Patriot Act, The War On Terror, The War on Drugs, the War on The People, sends out his bands of thugs to do violence to We The People. After all the Constitution in George Bush’s own words is just a GD piece of paper.

There is coming a day when the sheep will have enough. The Thugs With Badges will push it too far one day and kill another mother or sister or baby in one of their raids to STEAL property and intimidate CITIZENS. One day, someone will suddenly step forward and the mob will follow and blood will flow. Some of the Kevlar coated THUGS and COWARDS WITH BADGES will undoubtedly go down and the bulk of the citizens who stand behind the Constitution and against these tyrants will die or be beaten to bloody pulps but a precedent will be set. Civil war? Insurrection? No, just a bunch of folks trying to get by day to day finally getting fed up and saying ENOUGH of this shit.

So much more that could be written. So much more that needs to be said. So much more that needs to be done.

Sooth

[Temp man]

Hey, don't worry. Many of our soldier posters have assured us over and over again that they would never, ever, go after fellow citizens.

No, not here. They would refuse orders, they would. All their brothers in arms would refuse orders to intimidate and harrass fellow americans.

And the difference between police and soldiers? None. As a matter of fact, both rotate in and out of each others units.

All that training in Iraq is going to come in handy some day, huh?

[Torange]

There is coming a day when the sheep will have enough. The Thugs With Badges will push it too far one day and kill another mother or sister or baby in one of their raids to STEAL property and intimidate CITIZENS. One day, someone will suddenly step forward and the mob will follow and blood will flow. Some of the Kevlar coated THUGS and COWARDS WITH BADGES will undoubtedly go down and the bulk of the citizens who stand behind the Constitution and against these tyrants will die or be beaten to bloody pulps but a precedent will be set. Civil war? Insurrection? No, just a bunch of folks trying to get by day to day finally getting fed up and saying ENOUGH of this shit.



Tell that to the people of Zimbabwe. The levers of control are in place, obey or die.

[Michael]

Well, if they weren't doing anything wrong, why should they worry? That was the logic behind people not caring about warrentless wiretaps. What's a little abuse of the Constitution to keep us safe from the bogeyman? You really didn't need those rights anyway.

With warrantless wiretaps, law enforcement does not need to demonstrate "probable cause" of a crime being committed to get a warrant for a wiretap. Since when is freedom of speech a crime? :confused:

The Justice Department back in the days of Kennedy would be shutting this operation down as a violation of constitutional rights. A good old fashion class action lawsuit would have the same effect. Whoever came up with this idea needs to get fired.

[Fiddlerdave]

With warrantless wiretaps, law enforcement does not need to demonstrate "probable cause" of a crime being committed to get a warrant for a wiretap. Since when is freedom of speech a crime? :confused:

The Justice Department back in the days of Kennedy would be shutting this operation down as a violation of constitutional rights. A good old fashion class action lawsuit would have the same effect. Whoever came up with this idea needs to get fired.This doesn't work anymore. Wiretaps, etc. are secret. Assuming you even find out about it, the government has a perfect legal right to say the suit will compromise security, and it will be dismissed.

[Michael]

There is a case on appeal after a judge ruled AGAINST Bush. It may have to go through appeal after appeal all the way to the Supreme Court. I'm not sure there is any merit in the government's case for warrantless wiretaps when a very accommodating FISA court system was set up, even warrants granted after the fact of government surveillance in cases where opportunities would be lost through a normal warrant process.

[coleslilwitch]

Houses, spaces raided throughout the Twin Cities
Five-year-old child handcuffed and terrorized; activists allege program of intimidation

MINNEAPOLIS — In an outrageous series of state-sanctioned actions, police raided an activist “Convergence Space” and several homes in the past 24 hours, detaining multiple people on extraordinarily flimsy pretences, arresting several, confiscating computers and laptops, and even handcuffing a small child.

Beginning at 9:17 p.m. last night, with the raid on the St. Paul Convergence Space, and continuing throughout the day today, police harassment and brutality towards the local community has proceeded at an alarming pace. At least five separate raids have been reported throughout the Twin Cities, with the primary focus appearing to be the confiscation of computers and personal affects.

“These actions are clearly intended to have a chilling effect on dissent prior to the launch of the Republican National Convention,” said Natalia, a local activist and mother of two, who asked that her surname be withheld. “The message being conveyed is: ‘If need be, we will terrorize your children to dissuade you from voicing your opinion.’”

Here are the facts as we know them:

• Last night, police raided an activist meeting location. All occupants, including a five year old child, were detained, handcuffed, and photographed. Computers were removed from the space, and some personal property (like notebooks) were seized;

• A private residence on 17th St. was raided this morning and had its door kicked in. The same five year old child was again terrorized by armed law enforcement. The police continue to threaten to board up the house unless minor code violations (like a broken door) are remedied;

• A private residence in St. Paul, occupied by local residents and out-of-town journalists, was raided on the basis of an identical search warrant to the one presented last night at the Convergence Space (it specified “bomb-making materials,” though nothing of the sort was apparently seized);

• A private residence on Harriet Ave. was raided and has been threatened with being boarding up.
Other, similar actions are being reported, but fuller details are not yet available.

Coldsnap Legal Collective and other groups stand opposed to this program of intimidation and terror. It is evident from all reports that there was no real concern about “bomb-making materials” or anything similar. On the contrary, these actions were taken to suppress dissent and detain activists. We call on all residents to contact their local elected officials, express their deep concern, and be prepared for the apparently draconian tactics the police seem to currently favor in their efforts to silence the voice the people in the run-up to the RNC.

http://coldsnaplegal.wordpress.com/2008/08/30/houses-spaces-raided-throughout-the-twin-cities/