RNC Welcoming Committee Organizers Seek Sanctuary From Illegal Arrests
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- SATURDAY, AUG 30, 8:10PM
CONTACT Andrew Willis Garcés willisa [at] gmail [dot] com
ST.PAUL, MN -- Today two members of the RNC Welcoming Committee sought sanctuary from illegal disappearances carried out by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office at the Twin Cities Friends Meeting in St. Paul. Andy Fahlstrom, 27, and Betsy Raasch-Gilman, 56, appealed to the meeting for sanctuary following the arrests of five other Welcoming Committee members on Saturday, August 30. Warrants for the "search" of two other members have been made public – others have been "searched" and then arrested and held without bail for "probable cause." Many have been snatched on the street by plainclothes officers.
"In the past two days we have seen numerous instances of police harassment and arrest of Bushville campers on Harriett Island, independent journalists, and now the arrest on false pretenses of activists who have worked for over two years, in the open, to provide support for public dissent this week," said Raasch-Gilman.
The mission of the RNC Welcoming Committee is to provide meeting space, medical and legal support, food, housing, and other forms of support to activists coming to the Convention to express their opposition to the policies of Bush/McCain. The Welcoming Committee itself is not planning any demonstrations.
"We're seeking sanctuary to call attention to the illegal tactics – police violence, harassment and mass arrests – of the Ramsey County Sheriff, who has ordered the politically motivated arrests of dedicated community activists on false pretenses to make it more difficult for ordinary people to express their dissent," said Fahlstrom. "We're calling on Mayor Coleman, Chief Harrington, and other St. Paul councilmembers to join Councilmember David Thune in denouncing and calling for an end to the illegal tactics of Sheriff Bob Fletcher, and to affirm that the important work of creating supportive environments for dissent by all people that is the mission of the Welcoming Committee continue."
The two were offered support by members of the Meeting, which planned a special Meeting for Worship for Saturday night in response to today's events.
"There's a very long tradition of Quakers giving protection to persecuted people. So I'm completely in favor of my Meeting giving sanctuary to those who are currently being persecuted by the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office," said Meeting member Charley Underwood, 60. Ralph Hilgendorf, 75, said, "I've always viewed the sheriff and the local police as people who are here to protect us and our civil rights. Today's events are uconscionable and inconceivable in a free society. "
The two sanctuary seekers are available for phone interviews, as is a member of the Twin Cities Friends Meeting. Call Andrew Willis Garcés at willisa [at] gmail [dot] com.
Comments
Videos and photographs from Smith St Press Conference
Preemptive arrests are as criminal as preemptive war.
See this blog for videos and still shots:
http://silencedmajority.blogs.com/silenced_majority_portal/2008/08/preem...
I think
I can see that wars and arrests without proof are evil in this World.
Ralph Hilgendorf, 75, said,
Ralph Hilgendorf, 75, said, "I've always viewed the sheriff and the local police as people who are here to protect us and our civil rights. Today's events are [unconscionable] and inconceivable in a free society. "
Wrong, Mr. Hilgendorf. Your ignorance about today's events to stop the anarchists from committing violence are "unconscionable and inconceivable" in a free society.
Unconscionable
What do you know, un_juif, about the RNC Welcoming Committee, Ralph or Betsy?
We are all Quaker and committed to peace and non-violent protest. I know both personally and take personal offense to your assumptions that the police are right, in this instance, and Betsy and Ralph wrong.
I know them both to be honest, loving people, and know with a certainty like no other that they would never harm a single person. They both work hard at finding common ground and making peace where there wasn't peace before.
It's easy to sit behind your computer screen and your fake French name and judge. I hope you're never on the judged end of that equation.
Jeanne
The RNCWC
The RNCWC and their left wing and anarchist conspirators have threatened violence against the City of St. Paul and to interfere with our democratic process. It is public record. You should look it up sometime, when you aren't pontificating. Save your ad hominem.
and just what's your take on
and just what's your take on Wellstone's death, mr. ad hominem?
Both Of You Are Right
Both of you are right. No one is wrong. Everyone is pursuing what they believe in with passion. Passion is where the energy for change comes from. Don't assume, don't stereotype.
The message that the RNCWC exists only to support anarchists is a facade. Of course there are elements within the RNCWC with other than honorable purposes. The message that the police are here to protect us is a facade as well. Of course there are police bent on expressing their own personal, macho agendas.
What is important to note: Among all of the protestors, including RNCWC members, are people doing what they think is right, abhorring violence. This is true among the police as well. Only a few want to hurt.
I know a police officer who is a macho jerk. He was heavily abused by his father and suffers from alcoholism. He works hard at being kind, doing the right thing. His mindset steered him into police work. He tries hard to distance himself in his personal life from what he does for a living. I can guarantee you that there are many, many police who share his story.
I know a demonstrator who is hateful about just about everything. I don't know his personal background well. He wants the best for everyone, for there to be on pain in the world. I am sure he is on the streets this week with that message.
Who is right? We are what we are made of, we do what we can to survive. Society's dysfunction means that some of the mechanisms available to survive mean one has to be mean.
If I have to choose between providing a place for my family to live and not following my supervisor's directive to break up that line of protestors, I will break up the line every time.
This week, thank a demonstrator. Then turn aside and thank a police officer.
Best,
Steve
In every slaughterhouse,
In every slaughterhouse, every holocaust and war
There are some who choose to serve
But you have to get by, and we all of us die
And if not you, it would be someone else
So you tell yourself
Murderers
And both the spectators and the ones who look away
However much they disapprove
When they lie down to sleep, do their best to believe
There was nothing at all that anyone could do
But every slaughterhouse, every holocaust and war
Demands the peace of millions more
Wring your hands or applaud
Every blow you let fall
You’re accomplices all
Murderers
1. The Welcoming Committee
1. The Welcoming Committee has never threatened violence. It's purely logistics for the broader Anarchists organizing civil disobedience.
2. Since when is blockading roads violence? Fucking Gandhi blocked roads.
3. Remaining open to fighting back in self-defense against unprovoked assault from police is hardly threatening violence. It's not like the cops have the right to initiate force!
Implicit threats of violence
The implicit and explicit threats made by the RNCWC and the rest of their leftist and anarchist friends are public record. The mob descending on St. Paul to interfere with the democratic process have made their intentions known. Denying that fact either makes you ignorant or a liar.
What democratic process?
What democratic process?
are you a bot
seriously? you counter intelligence man? that's not very democractic...why did you post the same message twice?
In case you didn't get it the first time
The implicit and explicit threats made by the RNCWC and the rest of their leftist and anarchist friends are public record. The mob descending on St. Paul to interfere with the democratic process have made their intentions known. Denying that fact either makes you ignorant or a liar.
Jackboot lickers out in force as well
Blocking traffic - pretty serious terrorist activities, eh un_juif? Is that where the Minneapolis Police and the RNC are now - every act of civil disobedience is on par with the bombing or killing of innocents? As always, the jackboot licker's credibility is seriously lacking. But anything to support the state, right un_juif?
I'd say frankly that people like you should be THANKFUL that that's all that's being planned, because quite a bit more has been earned.
The state can't dominate its subjects without a horde of jackboot lickers, like un_juif, running support. Remember that when you try to convince yourself that this is just a civil debate.
RNCWC
I see you have no legitimate counter argument.
jackboot lickers, like un_juif
*plonk*
do you even know what ad
do you even know what ad hominem attacks refer to, un juif?
the judge's name on the
the judge's name on the warrant appears to be WERNEKE. here is the info for the district court in hennepin county:
Hennepin County District Court
Government Center, Room 12C
300 South Sixth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55487
Phone 612-348-3169
since werneke feels comfortable authorizing police raids on activists homes and cars and rented spaces, a visit to his house might be appropriate.
mikerobe
civil disobedience needed
Eleanor Roosevelt taughts workshops on civil disobedience for civil rights activist. In the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt go out and protest the U.S war machine with nonviolent civil disobedience. McCain doesn't want to leave Iraq,and seems bent on going in to Iran.
Somfortable authorizing
Somfortable authorizing police raids on activists homes and cars and rented spaces, a visit to his house might be appropriate. custom essay | courseworks | buy Admission essay | dissertation writing | custom assignment
Illegal arrests are always
Illegal arrests are always going to occur, there were arrests at the smoke remedy establishments due to licencing issues not so long ago.