Report: Punishing Protest: Government Tactics that Suppress Free Speech (2007)
Report, National Lawyers Guild, August 1st, 2007
 The National Lawyers Guild has released its second comprehensive report on government violations of First Amendment rights. “Punishing Protest: Government Tactics that Suppress Free Speech” documents how negative portrayals of protest and protesters in the mass media pave the way for a broad hierarchy of governmental threats to the First Amendment. The report includes testimonials from protesters who have experienced firsthand unlawful police conduct; it also documents case histories and chronicles steps the National Lawyers Guild is taking to address escalating threats to civil liberties. Chapter titles include: Protest: A Maligned Tradition; Applying the “Terrorist” Label to Activists; A Catalogue of Unlawful Government Tactics; Police Lies, Tampering, and Videotape; Court Settlements and Decrees to Protest Free Speech and Political Activity; Case Study: Bicyclists Under Fire. [Read more]
Essay: On the Phenomenology of Giant Puppets
Broken windows, imaginary jars of urine, and the cosmological role of the police in American culture
David Graeber, Academic Source, June 10th, 2007
A very important background document in that it explores and sources the groundless police accusations, from as early as 2000, that activists at events like the 2008 RNC in St. Paul planned to or actually "threw urine at police". [Read more]
Arrests, Repression, and the 2004 Republican National Convention
Jennifer Earl, Academic Source, July 6th, 2006
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the The Law and Society Association, Jul 06, 2006 and the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, TBA, New York, New York City, Aug 11, 2007. [Read more]
Report: Rights and Wrongs at the RNC (2005)
NYCLU (New York Chapter), American Civil Liberties Union, August 31st, 2005
 In this report, the NYCLU documents the important events leading up to the Convention, the swirl of activity surrounding the Convention, and its aftermath. Focusing primarily on the NYPD, the NYCLU concludes that the Department performed many of its duties well during the Convention while respecting the right to free speech, and the NYCLU commends the Department for those actions. At the same time, this report documents many troubling NYPD actions and makes a series of specific recommendations for changes in NYPD practices to assure that similar problems do not arise at future large-scale demonstrations. [Read more]
Report: The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent (2004)
A National Lawyers Guild Report on Government Violations of First Amendment Rights in the United States
Report, National Lawyers Guild, September 1st, 2004
 The facts assembled in the following pages attest to the pathology of a government so frightened of its own citizens that it classifies them as probable enemies. Mustering evidence from witnesses everywhere in the country (from trial judges in Oakland and Philadelphia as well as from First Amendment lawyers in New York, Portland, Boston, Washington and Miami) the report cites a long list of recent incidents in which various law enforcement agencies (federal, state, municipal) have deployed one or another of the increasingly sophisticated methods of intimidation (checkpoints, rush tactics, pop-up lines, containment pens, mass and false arrests, etc.) meant to negate the freedoms of speech and silence the voices of dissent. [Read more]
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2004 Republican National Convention in NY,
2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver,
Harassment of Glass Bead Collective journalists (night of Aug 26th/early morning of Aug 27th),
Critical Mass Bike Ride at Loring Park (Aug 29th),
Raid on Convergence Center at 627 Smith Ave S, St. Paul, MN (Aug 29th),
Raid on 951 Iglehart Ave, St. Paul, MN where i-Witness Video were staying (Aug 30th),
Raid on 2301 23rd Ave South, Minneapolis, MN (Aug 30th) Food Not Bombs home. Nathanael David Secor arrested,
Raid on 3500 Harriet Avenue, Minneapolis, MN (Aug 30th),
Raid on 3240 17th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN (Aug 30th) - Garrett Scott Fitzgerald, Eryn Chase Trimmer, Monica Rachel Bicking arrested,
Liberty Parade on Nicollet Mall (Aug 31st),
Vets for Peace Solumn Funeral Procession (Aug 31st),
March on the RNC to Stop the War (Sep 1st),
Vandalism in downtown St. Paul (Sept 1st),
Democracy Now staff arrests (Sep 1st),
Mass Arrest of Harriet Island "Take Back Labor Day" concert-goers on Shepard Road (Sep 1st),
Ripple Effect Concert at the State Capitol (Sep 2nd),
Mears Park Poor People's Rally & March for Our Lives (Sept 2nd),
Near-raid on i-Witness Video space at 1595 Selby Ave (Sep 3rd),
Mass arrest of Rage Against The Machine concert goers in Minneapolis (Sept 3rd),
Student Strike Against the RNC (Sep 4th),
"No Peace for the Warmakers" Rally & Demonstration (Sep 4th),
Mass arrest on Marion St Bridge (Sept 4th),
Community Conversation about the RNC (Sep 24th), RNC Public Review Safety Commission public hearing (Nov 6th), G-20 Protests in London (March-April 2009), G-20 protests in Pittsburgh (24-25 September 2009), RNC 8 evidentiary hearings (May 2010), G-20 Protests in Toronto (26-27 June 2010), RNC 8 Final Court Appearance (19 October 2010)
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BOSTROM, Matt (Assistant Police Chief of St. Paul),
CHOI, John (St. Paul City Attorney),
COLEMAN, Christopher B. (St. Paul Mayor),
DARBY, Brandon (A.K.A. "CHS 1", paid informant who infiltrated Austin protesters),
DARST, Andrew (A.K.A. "Panda", "CRI 2", paid informant who infiltrated RNC Welcoming Committee), DEPALMA, Matthew (Michigan Molotov Case),
DOLAN, Tim (Minneapolis Police Chief),
FLETCHER, Bob (Ramsey County Sheriff),
GAERTNER, Susan (Ramsey County Attorney),
GOODMAN, Amy (Democracy Now, arrested Sept 1st),
GROSS, Michelle (Communities United Against Police Brutality),
HARRINGTON, John (St. Paul Police Chief),
HEFFELFINGER, Tom (Former U.S. Attorney) and LUGER, Andy (former Assistant U.S. Attorney),
HUGHES, Elliot (alleged torture under Ramsey County Sheriff's care),
JOHNSON, Jason (Tased in Mears Park on Day 2),
KELLY, Mick (Banner carrier shot with projectile at point blank on Day 4/Arrested for distributing leaflets about RNC march at Obama rally),
LANE, Leah (abusive arrest on Day 4 captured on CNN and Fox 9),
LUBINSKI, Sharon (Assistant Police Chief of Minneapolis),
MAHONEY, Dave (Accused of dropping sandbag onto I-94 freeway on Day 1),
MULHOLLAND, Ann (St. Paul Deputy Mayor),
NESTOR, Bruce (President of National Lawyers Guild, Minnesota Chapter),
PAWLENTY, Tim (Governor of Minnesota), ROWLEY, Coleen (retired FBI 9/11 whistle-blower and peace activist),
"RNC 8" Arrestees (Monica BICKING, Robert CZERNIK, Garrett FITZGERALD, Luce Guillen GIVINS, Erik OSELAND, Nathanael SECOR, Max SPECTOR, and Eryn TRIMMER),
RYBACK, R.T. (Minneapolis Mayor),
SMITH, Keith (17-year-old protester allegedly beaten by police on Day 1),
SULLIVAN, Karen (Undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the Anti-War Committee),
SUNDIN, Jess (March on the RNC organizer, Anti-War Committee),
"TEXAS TWO" Arrestees (Bradley Neal CROWDER and David MCKAY),
THUNE, Dave (Ward 2 Council Member for St. Paul)
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