[imc-st.louis] Fwd: MINNEAPOLIS POLICE TARGET AND OBSTRUCT INDEPENDENT PRESS COVERAGE IN THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

[ben]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IMC-US] MINNEAPOLIS POLICE TARGET AND OBSTRUCT INDEPENDENT 
PRESS	COVERAGE IN THE DAYS LEADING UP TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL	CONVENTION
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 07:56:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: knight0440 at yahoo.com
Reply-To: knight0440 at yahoo.com

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Olivia 646.361.1986 Olivia [at] glassbeadcollective.org
Vlad 917.650.2486 Vlad [at] glassbeadcollective.org
Eileen Clancey 646.944.1181 iwitness [at] iwitnessvideo.info

MINNEAPOLIS POLICE TARGET AND OBSTRUCT INDEPENDENT PRESS COVERAGE IN THE 
DAYS LEADING UP TO THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

Repeated attacks on the civil liberties of independent press and 
activists before and during the election process emerge as a pattern

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota (August 30, 2008) – FBI and Minneapolis police 
continue attacks on independent journalists in the days leading up to 
the Republican National Convention, obstructing coverage of important 
concurrent events. On Saturday morning an FBI officer and a chief deputy 
from the Douglas County Sheriff’s dept. along with approximately 30 St. 
Paul police officers bearing firearms, tasers, pepper spray and at least 
one AR-15 surrounded a house where members of I-Witness Video Collective 
and journalist Elizabeth Press from Democracy Now were meeting. National 
Lawyer’s Guild Legal Observer Sarah Coffey was detained in handcuffs 
outside the building while acting as a liaison with the police. 
Occupants of the building did not consent to a search and were forced to 
lock themselves in the building. At approximately 3:00 p.m. (CDT) police 
officers tried to serve a warrant that had the wrong address. After 
being denied entry they stormed the
  building through the attic by gaining access to an adjacent property. 
The warrant covered all of journalistic equipment including privileged 
notes, computers, cameras, video tapes and communication devices. People 
inside were forcefully detained, photographed and police made a record 
of their names and addresses. After a 45 minute search the police 
released all detainees and left without seizing any of the equipment. 
Five other members of I-Witness video who were not present at the house 
were also simultaneously detained. Three of them detained as they were 
riding their bicycles a mile away from the scene of the search and the 
other two as they were driving in a car. The three-hour detainment 
stopped the media group from documenting three other raids happening 
simultaneously against activist groups in Minneapolis and St Paul.

This follows an incident from earlier this week when three members of 
Glass Bead Collective were illegally detained and had their equipment 
and notes confiscated by the Minneapolis police.

I-Witness Video is an independent media group using video to protect 
civil liberties. During the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC, 
video evidence provided by I-Witness Video exonerated 400 arrestees by 
exposing lies stated by the NYPD in sworn legal affidavits.


Video of the incident and search warrant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi1eluuDGss&fmt=6
High quality H264 download available on request

###

-- 
Ben West
westbywest at riseup.net
http://savetheinternet.org