Freedom Dogs

St. Paul Police handed a march route to the Coalition to March on the RNC & Stop the War. The PiPress reports that the protesters rejected it for not letting them get closer to the Xcel.

"The Republican Party has made a lot of people in this country angry, and they have a right to express that anger at the Xcel Center," said Meredith Aby, one of the organizers of the Sept. 1 march.

Ms. Aby, a Bloomington Jefferson high school teacher who seems more interested in protesting than teaching, also protested the timing:

In addition, Aby and other organizers said they would be required to march too early in the day and not have enough time. The protest is to begin at noon and be past the Xcel Center by 2 p.m.

Noon is too early on Labor Day? Call the waaaahmbulance. Why don't they make a federal case out of it? Oh that's right — they have.

All eyes now turn to a Friday hearing in a Minneapolis federal courtroom. The previously scheduled hearing was set as part of a lawsuit brought by protesters frustrated in earlier attempts to secure a route. The suit is spearheaded by local law firms, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Lawyer's Guild.

All lawyered up to bring down a peaceful assembly, and will offer their services to those who get arrested. A police federation official is not keen on the route, for different reasons:

"It appears to be a recipe for disaster," said St. Paul Police Federation head Dave Titus.

Titus said he was worried what would happen if protesters sat down along the route or if some were determined to create anarchy.

Dude, they're already planning anarchy.

"There's very little time and there's very little space, and there doesn't appear to be anywhere for people to go when they're done," he said.

I'm sure many in the St. Paul area would LOVE to tell them where to go. For extra security, it looks like there'll be a "safety net" around the Xcel;

Bostrom said there would likely be a barrier between protesters and conventioneers entering the Xcel Center. But he did not specify what it would look like.

Lawyers for protesters said they've been told the barrier would be a mesh material that allows protesters to see the building.

While Bostrom admitted unease with how close the protesters would be to Xcel — "You don't even need a good arm" to throw a rock and hit the convention center, he joked — he said he believed the route could be managed safely and satisfy federal requirements that protesters be within "sight and sound" of the convention.