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THREAD: This is the first RNC I've missed since 2000. In previous years I documented what was happening *outside* arenas and away from the speeches––protests, raids, surveillance, court cases, etc. Probably the most memorable convention I covered was in St. Paul in 2008.
1/12: On the Friday and Saturday before the convention the police, sheriff's department and FBI showed up at a protest center and at homes in St. Paul and Minneapolis. People were detained in cuffs and some computers and other items were seized. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/us/politics/30arrests.html
2/12: Here are pages from a warrant used to search addresses the police connected with an activist group, the RNC Welcoming Committee. One describes an ominous-sounding video. And here is a link to the video (with a soundtrack by Blondie) https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ylbff
3/12: Monday, the first day of the convention, included broken windows, tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02protest.html
4/12: At one point a police officer walked into a crowd of protesters and began dragging one of them away. A tug of war followed. A man sprinted up and shoved the officer, who spun on a knee and unleashed a wide arc of pepper spray. The prisoner escaped.
5/12: After black-clad groups wreaked some havoc police arrived and herded a different group of protesters into a parking lot then arrested dozens of them, along with several journalists.
6/12: There were more arrests on Tuesday ( https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/on-the-streets-295-arrests-so-far/?searchResultPosition=1)and on Wednesday. ( https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/arts/music/06rage.html?searchResultPosition=5)
7/12: On Thursday RNC Welcoming Committee members were charged with conspiracy to commit riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/us/politics/04protests.html
8/12: Later that night, as John McCain gave his acceptance speech, police followed and corralled protesters near the state capitol, bombarding them with flash grenades, and rubber bullets. Hundreds of protesters and reporters were arrested. https://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/hundreds-of-protesters-arrested/?searchResultPosition=1
9/12: It emerged that multiple informants had been working for months, infiltrating the RNC Welcoming Committee and other groups. One was Brandon Darby, from Austin, Texas. Documents showed he had begun gathering information long before the convention. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/05informant.html
10/12: Two men from Austin, who had traveled to Minnesota with Darby, pleaded guilty to possessing Molotov cocktails and were sentenced to prison terms. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/18brfs-PLEAINCONVEN_BRF.html
11/12: The RNC Welcoming Committee prosecution essentially collapsed. Charges against some members were dropped. Others pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanors and were sentenced to community service. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/18/us/18minnesota.html
12/12: Lawsuits over the raids were settled. The FBI said in an application for a warrant that agents believed they would find weapons at one house. Instead they found vegan literature. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/politics/04settlements.html
