"Peace" protestors turn violent at convention

[TradCat]

Demonstrations near the Republican National Convention site turned violent as protesters harassed delegates, smashed windows, slashed car tyres and hurled bottles.


The trouble happened not far from the Xcel Energy Centre convention site in St Paul, Minnesota, where the Republicans were starting the four-day meeting.

Many of those involved in the more violent activities identified themselves to reporters as anarchists. These protesters, clad in black, were operating on the streets in addition to a mostly peaceful anti-war march, wreaking havoc by damaging property and starting at least one fire. Most of the trouble was in pocket of a neighbourhood near downtown St Paul, several streets from where the convention was taking place.

[20000miles]

Demonstrations near the Republican National Convention site turned violent as protesters harassed delegates, smashed windows, slashed car tyres and hurled bottles.


The trouble happened not far from the Xcel Energy Centre convention site in St Paul, Minnesota, where the Republicans were starting the four-day meeting.

Many of those involved in the more violent activities identified themselves to reporters as anarchists. These protesters, clad in black, were operating on the streets in addition to a mostly peaceful anti-war march, wreaking havoc by damaging property and starting at least one fire. Most of the trouble was in pocket of a neighbourhood near downtown St Paul, several streets from where the convention was taking place.

Therefore, all anarchists are destructive, violent types, who do not want peace. When will these people learn that the defeat the state will stem from creating wealth rather than destroying it...

[Thac0man]

So McCain cannot count on those folks vote... oh well

The reality is of course that a Democrat or Republican Whitehouse will persue the same Iraq policy as the agreement with the Iraqi government has been signed. So I don't think these excitable muppets are living in the real world at all but servicing their own agenda. If they were doing otherwise they would have been at the Democrat convention demanding specifics from the Lord of Vague himself.

[Sucker Punch]

There's Always two sides to every story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Are these the Anarchists you speak of?

EREMY SCAHILL: And what exactly was the action today?

WARD REILLY: Well, we just want to peaceably assemble and try to draw attention to the fact that we’re still occupying two completely innocent nations and that we’re living in a police state.

JEREMY SCAHILL: While much of the focus of the anti-RNC protest centers around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the McCain camp’s promotion of their candidate as a war hero has once again made the Vietnam War and McCain’s role in it an issue.

WARD REILLY: Well, I respect John McCain’s having served his country, but, by nature, dropping bombs on innocent villages in Vietnam does not make you a war hero. I appreciate that he was a prisoner of war, and I respect him for that. And he has post-traumatic stress, and I don’t think a man with post-traumatic stress is a good man to have his finger on the red button.

STEVE McEWEN: My name is Steve McEwen. I served in Vietnam from ’66 to ’67. If anything, he should be using his experience to try and prevent war, instead of trying to do the things that he’s doing right now to heat it up.

MIKE CASEY: My name is Mike Casey. I was a medic in Vietnam. I served in Vietnam from 1970, ’71. I was getting—I got there toward the end of the war, so I was seeing the homicides, the suicides, the rampant drug addiction, heroin addiction, shootouts. We had assault helicopters. We had Cobra gunships. We had APCs. We had dusters. We had 155-millimeter howitzers. We had 175-millimeter howitzers. And we were killing people.

JEREMY SCAHILL: John McCain, of course, is also a Vietnam vet and is running in part on his war record. Your response?

MIKE CASEY: You know, he had twenty-three combat missions over Hanoi. I know what those airplanes hit. I have many friends that have walked into villages that had been bombed by napalm, that have killed hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians. He bombed civilian targets, because civilian targets are military targets. You have to remember that. It’s the most important thing that you can remember. We kill innocent civilians on purpose. They are military targets. This Geneva Convention stuff is bull [blank]! And that’s what we’re doing in Iraq. That’s what we’re doing in Afghanistan. It’s what we did in Vietnam. It’s what we did in Laos, Cambodia, Panama. You name it.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Both the Republicans and the Democrats refer to John McCain as a war hero.

MIKE CASEY: Bull [blank].

JEREMY SCAHILL: Why?

MIKE CASEY: I got a Bronze Star in Vietnam. Am I a hero? No! I did—I made a difference in Vietnam, and I’m proud—to a large degree, I’m proud of my service, because I think it made the difference between helping a lot of people in Vietnam with their injuries, because, like I say, I saw injuries. I saw dead American soldiers taken off of helicopters. And, you know, gentleman, there is nothing worse than to see an American soldier take his last breath. And there’s nothing worse than seeing a dead Vietnamese civilian that was killed irresponsibly by an American GI.

I get so tired of this hero stuff. I was not a hero in Vietnam, end of story, Bronze Star or not, Combat Medical Badge or not. I did my duty in Vietnam. But John McCain riding on a hero status? Give me a break!

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/1/vi ... te_against

[Van Damme]

It wouldn't have made the news otherwise. No one pays any attention to peaceful anti-war marches. They are completely useless.

[hibernia_free]

There's Always two sides to every story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYjyvkR0bGQ

Are these the Anarchists you speak of?

EREMY SCAHILL: And what exactly was the action today?

WARD REILLY: Well, we just want to peaceably assemble and try to draw attention to the fact that we’re still occupying two completely innocent nations and that we’re living in a police state.

JEREMY SCAHILL: While much of the focus of the anti-RNC protest centers around the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the McCain camp’s promotion of their candidate as a war hero has once again made the Vietnam War and McCain’s role in it an issue.

WARD REILLY: Well, I respect John McCain’s having served his country, but, by nature, dropping bombs on innocent villages in Vietnam does not make you a war hero. I appreciate that he was a prisoner of war, and I respect him for that. And he has post-traumatic stress, and I don’t think a man with post-traumatic stress is a good man to have his finger on the red button.

STEVE McEWEN: My name is Steve McEwen. I served in Vietnam from ’66 to ’67. If anything, he should be using his experience to try and prevent war, instead of trying to do the things that he’s doing right now to heat it up.

MIKE CASEY: My name is Mike Casey. I was a medic in Vietnam. I served in Vietnam from 1970, ’71. I was getting—I got there toward the end of the war, so I was seeing the homicides, the suicides, the rampant drug addiction, heroin addiction, shootouts. We had assault helicopters. We had Cobra gunships. We had APCs. We had dusters. We had 155-millimeter howitzers. We had 175-millimeter howitzers. And we were killing people.

JEREMY SCAHILL: John McCain, of course, is also a Vietnam vet and is running in part on his war record. Your response?

MIKE CASEY: You know, he had twenty-three combat missions over Hanoi. I know what those airplanes hit. I have many friends that have walked into villages that had been bombed by napalm, that have killed hundreds and thousands of innocent civilians. He bombed civilian targets, because civilian targets are military targets. You have to remember that. It’s the most important thing that you can remember. We kill innocent civilians on purpose. They are military targets. This Geneva Convention stuff is bull [blank]! And that’s what we’re doing in Iraq. That’s what we’re doing in Afghanistan. It’s what we did in Vietnam. It’s what we did in Laos, Cambodia, Panama. You name it.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Both the Republicans and the Democrats refer to John McCain as a war hero.

MIKE CASEY: Bull [blank].

JEREMY SCAHILL: Why?

MIKE CASEY: I got a Bronze Star in Vietnam. Am I a hero? No! I did—I made a difference in Vietnam, and I’m proud—to a large degree, I’m proud of my service, because I think it made the difference between helping a lot of people in Vietnam with their injuries, because, like I say, I saw injuries. I saw dead American soldiers taken off of helicopters. And, you know, gentleman, there is nothing worse than to see an American soldier take his last breath. And there’s nothing worse than seeing a dead Vietnamese civilian that was killed irresponsibly by an American GI.

I get so tired of this hero stuff. I was not a hero in Vietnam, end of story, Bronze Star or not, Combat Medical Badge or not. I did my duty in Vietnam. But John McCain riding on a hero status? Give me a break!

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/1/vi ... te_against

Thanks for sharing this interview. The reality of war is so horrible. So too is the reality of abortion. It's amazing how Democrats have no problem seeing the reality of war but not the reality of barbaric abortion and vice-versa for Republicans. The only difference between Obama and McCain is that McCain will kill fewer people than Obama will because he will pursue more pro-life domestic policies. Both candidates will continue the present war foreign policy of the USA so more innocent civilians and soldiers will die, but McCain will have a more pro-life domestic policy that will save U.S. unborn life. Ironically, more unborn African-American lives will be spared under a White presidency as opposed to a Black presidency!

[cHeal]

Thanks for sharing this interview. The reality of war is so horrible. So too is the reality of abortion. It's amazing how Democrats have no problem seeing the reality of war but not the reality of barbaric abortion and vice-versa for Republicans. The only difference between Obama and McCain is that McCain will kill fewer people than Obama will because he will pursue more pro-life domestic policies. Both candidates will continue the present war foreign policy of the USA so more innocent civilians and soldiers will die, but McCain will have a more pro-life domestic policy that will save U.S. unborn life. Ironically, more unborn African-American lives will be spared under a White presidency as opposed to a Black presidency!

Wow, way to re-invented the tangent.

The very fact that you describe legal abortion, as "barbaric" makes your post the second stupidest I've seen today. Well done. scum.

[Defeated Romanticist]

Thanks for sharing this interview. The reality of war is so horrible. So too is the reality of abortion. It's amazing how Democrats have no problem seeing the reality of war but not the reality of barbaric abortion and vice-versa for Republicans. The only difference between Obama and McCain is that McCain will kill fewer people than Obama will because he will pursue more pro-life domestic policies. Both candidates will continue the present war foreign policy of the USA so more innocent civilians and soldiers will die, but McCain will have a more pro-life domestic policy that will save U.S. unborn life. Ironically, more unborn African-American lives will be spared under a White presidency as opposed to a Black presidency!

Wow, way to re-invented the tangent.

The very fact that you describe legal abortion, as "barbaric" makes your post the second stupidest I've seen today. Well done. scum.

Well don't allow reality to get in your way

[lostexpectation]

the attitude of hte police is extraordinary, straight out with the full riot gear, long sticks and peper spray gas masks, no tiered response at all.


they raided the convergence center already, so the protestors are only giving as good as they get.


at the democractic convention there was small protest, and the police blocked them at one end told them to go away but of course at usual the police had blocked every exit so the trapped the crowd and started pepper spray them, malicious, pyschopathic cop as usual.


http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/ ... index.html

[lostexpectation]

Demonstrations near the Republican National Convention site turned violent as protesters harassed delegates, smashed windows, slashed car tyres and hurled bottles.


The trouble happened not far from the Xcel Energy Centre convention site in St Paul, Minnesota, where the Republicans were starting the four-day meeting.

Many of those involved in the more violent activities identified themselves to reporters as anarchists. These protesters, clad in black, were operating on the streets in addition to a mostly peaceful anti-war march, wreaking havoc by damaging property and starting at least one fire. Most of the trouble was in pocket of a neighbourhood near downtown St Paul, several streets from where the convention was taking place.

so no injuries to any persons, peaceful. good.