The Peace-Loving, Road-Blocking, Window-Smashing Protesters at the RNC

Slate ^ | Monday, September 1, 2008 | Christopher Beam

[kristinn]

It's around noon and I'm driving to the Xcel Center in St. Paul when a group of kids pulls police tape across the intersection of 10th Street and Jackson. I ask a nearby girl to let me through. I'm not a cop, I say, and I'm not a delegate. I just want to find the parking lot. She smiles, flashes a peace sign, and turns away. Apparently people looking for parking are not the enemy.

SNIP

Now everyone's running up Sixth, away from the shrieking sirens. I hear a crash. I look to my right and see a ground-level window in Macy's shattering. Bits of glass scatter across the sidewalk. A kid wearing a black bandana across his face is walking away. He's holding a hammer. He walks up to an empty cop car and sends the hammer through the driver's window. Another guy is yanking off the license plate. Further up the street, I see someone slashing the tires of a parked Ford sedan. A giant TV camera is filming him as he does it.

Everyone starts to panic a little. "We're gonna get ****** up, man," says one guy. They all swarm into a nearby parking lot. It's full of cars, which I guess gives them cover. At the back of the lot, I see the "medics" huddling around the guy who was carrying the hammer a moment ago. His scarf is gone. Blood is streaming down his wrist and pooling on the pavement. I ask how it happened. "I'm asking you to please leave," one of them says. "Did he smash a window?" I ask. "We don't want media here," she says. "You wanted media five minutes ago," I say. "We don't want it now," she says.

[kristinn]

This is a good write up of the protests.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

“This is a good write up of the protests.”

Versus what is being reported in the local (Twin Cities) media.

Only one local media news vehicle was attacked. Tires slashed....

The local FOX outlet.

[Clint Williams]

Just hang ‘em by the neck on a rope for an hour or so. I think their behavior will be much improved by the experience.

[EternalVigilance]

She smiles, flashes a peace sign, and turns away.

Peace rioters.

[lesser_satan]

The fact that the left-leaning Slate is
calling out their own is a great credit to them. They are a fine publication.

[the invisib1e hand]

Read the intro to “Misunderestimated,” to get an idea of a moment in the life of a true conservative.

[kcvl]

Protests are fine but when someone puts on a mask they should be arrested immediately! They are hiding their faces for a reason.

[sionnsar]

Interesting comment from the reporter:

I finally spot four members of my group—that's how I think of them

[NonValueAdded]

ROFL³: "Are you NPR?" asks one protester excitedly.

[Roscoe Karns]

These idiots were chanting, “The whole world’s watching!”. Good grief, talk about old hackneyed cliches. Might as well be screeching, “23 skidoo!”

[Global2010]

I am on real limited time before we get back on our not so fun journey here so to the point I am curious (webtv links take for ever to go too)...

Is this for real or is it fiction?

[dirtbiker]

An Escalade tries to drive slowly through the tape, but a few kids stand in front of it, arms out, daring the SUV to hit them

I don't drive an Escalade, but if any of these idiots tried to block my progress on a public road, they'd best be prepared to pick pieces of my front bumper out of their rears.

I'll tell them ONE time to get out of the way, then I will consider them part of the street....

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

“Protestors throw bricks at Alabama delegates’ bus”

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S563401.shtml?cat=1

[atomic conspiracy]

The whole world really is watching this time, since the media can’t cover for the communards, at least not completely.
They are being exposed for the criminals they are.

[econjack]

Just hang ‘em by the neck on a rope for an hour or so.

Naw...too drastic. Just use plastic ties to tie them to a nearby lamp post, pull their pants down to their ankles and leave them there so the rest of society to make fun of them. Get a couple of pictures while your at it and send it to their parents so they know how their kids are spending their time. Oh...the parents have to pay a hefty fine to get the police to cut them free.

[kristinn]

It tracks with what others have been reporting.

The Slate reporter wasn't on scene when the Connecticut and Alabama delegations got attacked. That was ugly and dangerous.

[atomic conspiracy]

Club, cuff, and cage. It’s the only way.

[jdub]

"This is the Boston Tea Party!" he yells again, this time at my notepad. He realizes this is weird. "I'm yelling at your pad like it's a microphone," he observes.

Like, Dude...

[Alouette]

Naw...too drastic. Just use plastic ties to tie them to a nearby lamp post, pull their pants down to their ankles and leave them there so the rest of society to make fun of them. Get a couple of pictures while your at it and send it to their parents so they know how their kids are spending their time. Oh...the parents have to pay a hefty fine to get the police to cut them free.

And have Nelson come and mock them (I saw "The Simpsons Movie" too)

[ricks_place]

A Republic if you can keep it.

Protesters smash the windows of a police car during an anti-war rally at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)