Kentucky Students
Still Jailed After RNC Protest

SCOTT McFETRIDGE
AP / Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN) 2sep2008

 

Police use pepper spray to break up a group of protesters during a rally at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., on Monday, Sept. 1. Kentucky Kernel photojournalist Ed Matthews, left with camera, was later arrested on charges of felony riot according to the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center. Matt Rourke | AP Photo Mindfully.org note: In the photo above witness the wanton cruelty displayed by depraved police shooting massive streams of caustic pepper spray on the photographer. The popular media portrays protestors as an unruly mob intent on causing harm to property. But the plain fact of the matter is that the police initiated it all by viciously attacking almost anyone who looked like they might be protesting against the Republicans — meaning anyone who: was either young; had long hair or dreadlocks; carried a banner or placard; was not white; and especially the press. Most protestors were acting in a legal manner, and we might add, they had a Constitutional right to do so. Considering the content of the RNC, there needs to be people pointing out what is wrong. This is what Freedom is all about — We have a right to protest peacefully. And we have a right to freedom of the press. That does not matter to the police. They had instructions to bust heads. And they were heavily aided by the Secret Service people. The real problems occurred with reactions to inappropriate use of force by the police. In spite of people marching peacefully, the police instigated most of the violence. The especially targeted media people who clearly had proper identification hanging around their necks, ripping those I.D, tags from them, stating things such as, "You won't be needing those anymore."  The police were raiding homes even before the RNC began, with the clear intent on terrorizing and disrupting the people within who were planning to protest. They had lists to follow in order to know where to intrude. They would also repeatedly run sirens on the cruisers several times throughout the night to disturb their sleep. A wide range of disrupting tactics were employed. Many times, people were charged with building code violations. Why were police writing violations for building code violations when this is the job of the City's Building Department? This was just one more of their many tactics of disruption. What the police were doing was unlawful.  While reading about this issue and listening to or watching the popular news, what the police will say will be distortions or outright lies in most cases.  And below we see another group of insane police attacking a young woman. Is this what real men do — beat up women without provocation? What he-men these guys are — specimen of the new world order who are probably unable to think clearly about life and obviously have strong dislike of women and people who can think at all. Actions such as these by the police make us worry for the future of America. There was no violence here until the police introduced it. What will become of us when times really get tough? Who do you call when the police are the problem?

MINNEAPOLIS—Two University of Kentucky journalism students and their newspaper adviser remained jailed Tuesday night, more than a day after they were swept up with nearly 300 others during protests in downtown St. Paul. Police arrested students Edward C. Matthews and Britney D. McIntosh along with adviser Jim Winn on Monday afternoon. All came to the Twin Cities to document protests held in response to the Republican National Convention, meeting this week in St. Paul.

Matthews' father, Tom Matthews, heard about his son's arrest Tuesday morning, then saw him in an Associated Press photo that showed him turning away from a stream of pepper spray.

"I feel for him," his father said. "He's taking it in the chops."

Matthews, of Lexington, Ky., spent much of Tuesday trying to learn whether his 21-year-old son would face charges or be released from the Ramsey County jail before being told he'd remain in jail for a second night.

The three arrested are affiliated with the University of Kentucky student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel (below). Matthews is a photographer, McIntosh is the multimedia editor and Winn is the paper's photo adviser.

Editor Brad Luttrell said the three traveled to St. Paul for the experience of working with professional journalists on a big story, not to cover the convention for the college paper.

"Their intent was to document. They were not protesters," Luttrell said. "They were doing what all the other journalists were there to do." The photo of Matthews reacting to pepper spray was atop the Kernel's Web site on Tuesday, and Luttrell said it would be the 17,000-circulation daily newspaper's top story Wednesday.

"What's troubling to me is the censorship that's involved here," Luttrell said. "If the police arrest our journalists and they can't tell what's going on, then who is there to describe it?"

Matt Rourke, the AP photographer whose picture showed Matthews, also was arrested, though it wasn't clear if both were arrested in the same incident. Rourke was released hours later and not charged.

Amy Goodman, host of the syndicated radio and television program Democracy Now!, and two of the show's producers also were arrested and then released. Goodman was cited for a misdemeanor charge of obstructing the legal process, said Ramsey County Attorney's Office spokesman Jack Rhodes.

Whether to charge Goodman will be decided when she appears in court. The city attorney's office did not immediately know what her court date was and online jail records didn't have it.

No charges were expected against Goodman's colleagues, Rhodes said.

All four, plus those from Kentucky, were among nearly 300 people arrested at the event that attracted about 10,000 primarily peaceful marchers. A splinter group estimated by police at about 200 broke windows, slashed tires and harassed delegates.

Rourke was covering the protest when he was swept up by police moving in on a group of protesters in downtown St. Paul. Goodman was arrested as she asked police in riot gear about the status of two producers who had been arrested, Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar.

Goodman interviewed her two producers on her show Tuesday where they recounted their experience. A video of Goodman's arrest, aired on her program and also posted on YouTube, shows her begging police not to arrest her before being taken away in handcuffs.

• Goodman's arrest: http://www.youtube.com/watch?voYjyvkR0bGQ 

source: 2sep2008

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Two Students and Kernel Photo Adviser
Arrested at RNC

ALI CICERCHI & JILL LASTER / Kentucky Kernel 2sep2008

 

Two UK students and the photo adviser for the Kentucky Kernel were arrested at the Republican National Convention Monday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn., on charges of felony rioting. They were photographing the protesting of the convention.

Photographers Ed Matthews and Britney McIntosh, as well as adviser Jim Winn were three of 286 people arrested as convention protests escalated into riots Monday.

All three were arrested on charges of felony riot and are being detained at the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center.

They will be charged no later than Wednesday, said jail officials. If convicted, Winn, Matthews and McIntosh would receive a minimum sentence of one year in jail and have to pay a minimum fine of $3,000.

The three were at the convention for personal reasons, and not on assignment for a newspaper, said Carla Winn, Jim Winn’s wife.

Carla Winn, who was with her husband at the convention, said the problems at the RNC started when a group of protestors broke off from the main group. People started “smarting off to cops,” said Winn, who said she slipped behind a building while her husband got mixed in with protestors.

The police tried to move the protestors back in route, Carla Winn said, but when they couldn’t, started spraying people.

Jim Winn was brought to the ground at gunpoint, Carla Winn said, while McIntosh walked around with her hands up in the air and Matthews was sprayed with pepper spray.

A friend of the Winns, Jonathan Woods, witnessed the riots as well. Woods said that the police warned the protestors before using chemical deterrent.

“There was a pretty good volume of tear gas and pepper spray used,” Woods said. “The rubber bullets are what really got people moving.”

Tom Walsh, public information officer for the St. Paul Police Department is obviously a liar.  Who do you call when  the police are the problem?

Woods said that it was a dynamic situation and the cops had a hard time getting a handle on things. Of those arrested Monday, four were journalists accredited with the RNC, said Tom Walsh, public information officer for the St. Paul Police Department. However, he said, that does not include journalists affiliated with RNC-accredited groups, including some bloggers and photographers such as Jim Winn, McIntosh and Matthews.

Such a small group of accredited journalists being arrested means police aren’t targeting journalism, but criminal behavior, Walsh said.

“There are literally thousands of journalists here, and they’ve managed to cover their stories (without getting arrested), which would imply there’s nothing going on there,” Walsh said.

Matthews, McIntosh and Winn could not be reached for comment.

source: 2sep2008

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Also see:
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) Condemns Police Intimidation of Journalists
AMY GOODMAN / Democracy Now! 2sep2008

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