State Terror Leading Up to RNC

The Drexel PLG unequivocally condemns the preemptive police raids that began Friday night at the RNC Welcoming Committee's convergence space. At 9:15pm on Friday night, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department along with the St. Paul police burst through the doors of the convergence space with guns drawn while around 50 activists, including children and the elderly, shared food and watched a movie. All individuals were ordered to lay face down on the floor and were all summarily handcuffed while Minnesota's terror agents executed a search warrant that they said they had but did not show. Activists were then detained, photographed, and after their personal information was recorded, released. Personal computers, hard drives, protest literature and other items were confiscated. The fact that not one single person was arrested attests to the desperate use of scare tactics employed by the police to try and disrupt scheduled protests set for the beginning of next week's convention.

But, that was only the beginning. Starting early Saturday morning, activists' homes all over Minneapolis were raided, once again, in a attempt to intimidate protestors and stifle dissent. Twin Cities Indymedia is doing a good job of posting breaking news as it unfolds. Videos from many of the raids as well as a map showing where the raids are taking place can be found here.

These examples of draconian State power come only 2 days after the Berkeley police and officers from 2 other agencies raided the Long Haul Infoshop in Berkeley, CA. The police broke down doors and confiscated all computers saying "they may have been used to commit a felony." The officers refused to show a warrant until after they were finished ransacking the building.

These preemptive acts of aggression and violence by State forces must be resisted, opposed, and emphatically condemned by every individual who recognizes the right to dissent and protest as not only legitimate, but imperative, when those in power seek to oppress those who oppose them.