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Revenge against the Machine
Following on from the Rage Against The Machine march on the Xcel Centre and the RNC, it looks like last night, the police were out for revenge.
The band were playing a proper, legal, ticketed gig at the Target Centre in Minneapolis (for now, let's leave aside the question of how they're playing a gig at a venue which is a marketing tool for a major Republican Party Contributor as that might just make my head pop). As Coldsnaplegal's Twitter feed witnessed, the cops were waiting for revenge:
Concert goers @the rage against the machiene show are taking to the streets. riot cops on every corner, 1 arrest. need legal observers.
Front of target center cleared. 7th & Hennepin blocked by riot cops. Pepper spray deployed.
folks from after show protest are being arrested and ordered on to city busses at 7th and marquette in minneapolis. arrest numbers unknown.
riot cops have left 7th st. and 2nd ave, 31 people confirmed arrested and taken.
Front of target center cleared. 7th & Hennepin blocked by riot cops. Pepper spray deployed.
folks from after show protest are being arrested and ordered on to city busses at 7th and marquette in minneapolis. arrest numbers unknown.
riot cops have left 7th st. and 2nd ave, 31 people confirmed arrested and taken.
On MnIndy's Twitter, there was a suggestion that media attention might have increased the tension:
I'm hearing the omnipresent buzz of overhead helicopters in Minneapolis. Media's hyping violence threat as Rage lets out downtown.
Rage is not yet letting out. The crowd is mostly looky-loos anticipating violence and beating drums
Rage is not yet letting out. The crowd is mostly looky-loos anticipating violence and beating drums
But, clearly, even before the concert started the police were looking for confrontation:
spp just ticketed everyone here for parking facing the wrong direction icluding the guy parked in his own driveway. huh? -robin
Is the McCain - Mayor McCheese ticket really so petrified of Rage Against The Machine they need to send police out to pepper spray young people who actually show an interest in the political process?
[via Boing Boing]
4 comments:
for now, let's leave aside the question of how they're playing a gig at a venue which is a marketing tool for a major Republican Party Contributor
Don't you know anything? They're bringing the system down from within. Obviously.
... while stocking up on stationery and household goods at bargain prices
5 items or less queue! I won't do what you tell me!
I'm in St Paul at the moment, and the Republican thing has angered locals by causing a large chunk of Downtown to be fenced off.
The helicopter thing is no exaggeration, I've fallen asleep to the sound of whirring blades (and police launches racing up and down the Mississippi just outside my window) for the last two nights. My fiancée has commented that it's things like that that make her want to move to the UK as soon as possible.
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