From The Archives

Looking through some of my photos from last summer during the Republican National Convention. This capture stood out seeing all of the police in their riot gear, making their presence known and keeping the peace.

The Lost Viking

I found him lurking around in Rice Park during the Republican National Convention held during the late summer of 2008.

Strolling Down The Street

Ummmm, yeah, I can't really think of anything clever to say....what's the first thing that came to your mind when you saw today's photo?

Minnesota Vikings Victory

After a quarterback change after week two, the Vikings finally earn their first win of the season. This photo I took during the Republican National Convention of a jolly Vikings fan kept coming to mind. I'm not sure why he was dressed this way, or if he was there to protest. He even blew his conch shell that he carried with him and made the trademark Vikings call.

Guarding Mickey's Diner

I believe it was the second evening of the 2008 Republican National Convention where a mob of anarchist decided to go after an icon of St Paul, Mickey's Diner. They tried to attack the restaurant from what I read. Not sure if they wanted to overtake it or what exactly. It prompted full time security around the historic business.

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

One of my favorite protest signs I found in Rice Park during the RNC 2008 was this one a well dress gentleman was holding up. There was a different message on the front of the sign that he had on display for the MSNBC crowd, but the back of the sign had this classic phrase, "Don't Taze Me, Bro!"

For those of you unfamiliar with this phrase, it is taken from a video that was shot during a John Kerry question and answer session on September 17, 2007 at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida. 21 year old, Andrew Meyer spoke these words as he was removed by campus police after, well, you'll have to watch the video for yourself to see why he was removed....

Live From Rice Park, It's MSNBC

A familiar fountain to those that recognize the area in Rice Park in St Paul. It was the scene to the MSNBC live broadcast of the 2008 Republican National Convention. I've captured this photo to show something very familiar with the strange scene in the background. To the left, you can see a hand full of people. That is only a small portion of crowd that was on hand.

  

RNC 2008 - Delegate

I'll give you one guess to tell me what state this delegate is from....

RNC 2008 - Cut The Pork

Rice Park, a location I have posted many photos from in my two and a half years of Twin Cities Daily Photos, became the scene of the MSNBC live studio broadcast during the RNC 2008. One could have spent all week taking photos of all of the "Protests Of One" that were on display. The costumes and signs were outstanding to say the least. In the next few days, I'll post photos of some of my favorites. While I personally don't agree with many of the messages, I found their means of attention worthy of a photo to my blog.

These two, dressed in, attention gathering, fabulous pink pig suits, while holding signs to 'Tax Meat'. Quoted from their website:

PETA is calling on members of Congress to support a "sin" tax on meat. Why? Among other reasons, meat is the number one cause of global warming, a looming environmental disaster that threatens the United States with billions of dollars in damages from rising sea levels, worsening storms, and increased droughts.

When I read this on their web site that [eating] "meat is the number one cause of global warming', it made me wonder, is this true? So it's not the automobiles we drive that are causing global warming? Thank goodness. So many causes are now claiming to be the number one cause, it's beyond laughable at this point to me.

I do appreciate the effort they took for this, even if I do not agree with the message. Sorry.

RNC 2008 - Day 4 - Final Day Of Protests

Wow. Simply wow. What I witnessed tonight in the Capital city of St Paul was amazing. Bravo to the police force and their presence that kept the protesting crowd from entering the downtown area. I was able to make it down to the RNC area on the final evening. Myself and two local bloggers, Mitch of Minneapolis Photography and Snapshutter of TwinCitiesPhotos.com met around the time the protesters permit on the capital grounds was active. From my understanding, the permit to protest expired at 5:00. Their plan was to march to the Xcel Energy Center without a permit. The police force prohibited their march into the downtown area. Judging by the last three days, broken windows, vandalism, riots and more, who knows what would have happened on the final day of the Republican National Convention, it was a smart plan.

We watched a good portion of the evenings events good distance away from all of the action. We spent nearly three hours watching everything play out. When we first saw the group of protesters, we had heard they were sitting, blocking traffic on John Ireland Boulevard bridge that crosses Interstate 94. We found a parking ramp that was nearby and made our way up about six floors. We must have watched about 15 minutes before we realized that the protesters were not sitting on the bridge blocking traffic. Look closely at the photo below, I cropped it into a large panoramic photo so you can see it better. Take note of the right side of the bridge, lots of color in the clothing, now follow that along to the left side of the bridge. See the group of dark blue clothing? That my friends was the police not allowing the permitless protesters from marching beyond the bridge. This went on for 35-45 minutes when a car pulled up and the ramp security guards asked us to leave the ramp. After they checked our id's and made sure we were not taking photos for any protesting related group, they let us go.


For the first time I can recall, I saw snow plows in St Paul in the month of September. No, they were not clearing snow, but we had joking said that they were going to use the snow plows to clear the bridge of protesters. No, what they used them for was planting them at the ends of the bridges that lead into the downtown area and ultimately the Xcel Energy Center.
 

Once we had moved from the ramp, we made our way to one of the bridges that lead into the downtown area. Across Interstate 94, the police kept the protesters at bay. The number of officers had to be over 300 on the other side of the bridge. As the protesters moved from bridge to bridge, so too would the police. In the area we were at, the spectators watching and waiting for something to happen started to grow. Some of the protesters who had gotten there late or found away around started chanting from our side of the bridge. There was a bit of concern as some of the shouters started yelling for the crowd to approach the police from their backside. Within minutes of the yelling and scream, up pulls a city truck with barricades. Another vehicle pulls up and I realize it Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher giving orders and taking control of this side of the bridge. I was rather surprised to see the Sheriff right in the thick of things.


After a long, long, long wait for the starring contest to end between the police and the protesters, we decided to grab a bite to eat and rest our feet. One of the final photos I took in this area does show a few of the protesters taken into custody and sitting on the median on the bridge.


I'll finish up today's posting with a brief ending to the protesting night. Once we finished eating, we noticed all of the bridges had cleared. The police and protesters were nowhere to be found. Vanished, gone, poof. I was confused. What I have learned is, around 7:30-8:00, the police had enough and started using concussion grenades and tear gas to disperse the crowd. That pushed the crowd back to the Sears parking lot [which was open for business at the time]. I'm not sure how they did it, but the only exit to the area was to cross over the Marion Street Bridge. Many of the protesters wanted to get out of there and crossed the bridge. They were met by a police blockade on the other side of the bridge. In the end, both sides of the bridge had a police blockade, thus trapping the protesters on the Marion Street Bridge. All of the protesters on the bridge were arrested. Wow....

RNC 2008 - Day 3

Of the photos I took on Monday during the aftermath of the first day of protests, this was my personal favorite. The protest sign was fitting for my eyes. We've voiced our views, we've marched the streets, we've said our peace....now lets move on and get back to normal. I was glad to see the sign properly disposed of instead of thrown into the streets for someone else to pick up. After seeing what some of the out of towner protesters have done to the downtown St Paul area, hummmm, is calling those who are here to cause destruction and disruption 'protesters' am I disrespecting those who are actually here to protest? Protest all you want, it's your right as a US Citizen [you'd be killed in other countries for doing so], but do in civil and leave the needless destruction out of it.

RNC 2008 - Day 2

I was not able to make it down to the downtown area for photo taking on Day 2, nor will I make it down for Day 3, the evening of Day 4 is on my calender. The convention was in full swing today with protesters marching, delegates assembled and a full night of videos and speeches taking place inside the Xcel Energy Center.

One of the oddest protests signs from Day 1 as this one pictured that reads "Impeach Nixon". Ummmm, hello....that's several decades ago eh? The other sign reads "Warning: The change you decide" I never made out the folded over side of the sign, perhaps it made more sense? Do note the double rows of fencing that surrounds the Xcel Energy Center.


About 5:00 on day 1, the capital grounds was rather empty. There was a few small pockets of protesters still sitting on the lawn, but generally there was nothing happening here. I was expecting to see litter, signs and who knows what else, but I was surprised to see very little destruction here.


These two gentlemen were headed into downtown St Paul carrying signs. There was a lot of information on them and you had to stop for a minute or two to read everything that was on the sign. I never was able to catch up with them unfortunately.


One question that had been on my mind the past week was where would all of the protesters eat, drink, and where would they go when they needed to use the restroom? My questions were answered here. There was rows and rows of port-a-potties, several food and water stands, plus many extra garbage cans for their garbage. I was impressed by the city in their planning so far to make things as convenient for the protesters as possible. Still many 'splinter cells' as the local media is calling them, are hell bent on causing destruction to various public buildings, police cars and stopping the delegates buses from entering and leaving the Xcel grounds.


There was this one group that I found interesting to watch. One has a guitar, one has a bongo drum, one has a flag, and all of them were dancing and singing something I couldn't quite make out. Mitch from Daily Minneapolis Photography was there capturing the Day One evetnts of one the 'splinter cells' causing a ruckus on Kellogg and Wabasha. One thing I remarked from his post, please do stop by his site and see his excellent photos, was the off-key singing. Mitch, you would have loved to listen to this bunch and see you Thursday.


More tomorrow....stay tuned

RNC 2008 Day 1 Has Begun

Well, the RNC Convention 2008 has begun, but only the basic duties were carried out today. Due to hurricane Gustav coming ashore in Louisiana, all of the speakers were canceled. I made it to the convention area late in the afternoon as bus after bus after bus made it's way into the parking areas around the Xcel Energy Center. By this time, the main anti-war protest had just completed. There was a 'peace' march from the Capital, to the Xcel, around downtown and back to the Capital building. As this was the largest of the protests, they had anticipated 50,000 people to attend. I've read reports of 2,000 to 5,000 protesters showed up for the rally. Not much of a rally I guess.

What I found interested was the dress of the typical protester. Dressed in black was the typical color of choice and wearing a backpack. Some had bandanna's covering their face....why did they not want to be identified if they have strong belief's in their cause? Some of the protesters did have their cause printed in their t-shirts, which was rather smart. I know there are rules to carrying a sign with a stick attached. The stick could only be so large or it could be considered a weapon. But if you're hands were free from carrying a sign and your bandanna started to fall, your free hands could easily pull it back in place.

The strangest part of my walk around the area was when I was on my way home for the evening. I was walking towards the Minnesota Historical Society building when I well groomed man approached me wearing a blue polo shirt. He asked me this question "Sir, I'm from out of town, do you know where a good place to get some coffee is around here?" Whoa! Time out! What? It's 90 degrees outside, I'm sweating my ass off walking around and a well groomed man asks me where I can get a cup of coffee! The first thing that came to mind was: Is that code for something? Is this a Larry Craig episode unfolding? Is this guy an undercover officer looking to nab someone? Is this an undercover news reporter trying to relive the Larry Craig episode? They guy wasn't trying to tap my foot or anything, but I told him to try downtown and got the hell out of there. The first police officer I found, I pointed the guy out to him and told him what had just happened and said the guy seams out of place for what is going on around here.

One thing I noticed while looking at this batch of photos. If you look closely at the photos, you can see officers standing on the roof of the Xcel Energy Center. I hadn't noticed them while taking the photos.

  

Republican National Convention 2008 - Day 1

Today is day one of the 2008 Republican National Convention in downtown St Paul. There have been a few protests, a few arrests, a few police raids, and many more to come in the next four days. The city of St Paul braces for who know what. I just hope these goof balls from out of town that are hell bent on destruction of the RNC don't embarrass the state of Minnesota. I did find this unexpected site while traveling along Interstate Highway 94 on the East Side Neighborhood between Highway 61 and the 3rd street exit. I drove by it three times to capture one decent enough photo to post today. I'm sure many of the delegates will see this as a welcome side as the make their approach into downtown St Paul.

Comedy Central's Indecision 2008

On Friday when I was driving around looking for RNC protesters, which I only found one person [see yesterday's post], I stumbled upon this banner hanging promoting Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 television program. What's strange is, I had no idea they were coming to town to broadcast here in downtown St Paul at the History Theatre. My only question is, where they in Denver during the DNC?

My First Encounter Of The RNC

And there he was, protest sign and all, about a block away from the Xcel Energy Center where the Republicans will host the Republican National Convention September 1-4, my first protester sighting of the RNC. While I am not a protester of any kind, nor am I promoting any protest group, I am only posting photos as it relates to the Twin Cities and what's going on around town. The stir in town is huge. Traffic into and around the Xcel Energy Center has been severely altered until 6:00 AM, Sept 5.

To Go Or Not To Go

Monday in St Paul, there is going to be a protest march were they are expecting 50,000 people. This is unbelievable to me. Mind you, I will not be protesting, I only want photos for this daily photo site. But my thoughts are....where are all of these people going to be staying for the next week or so? Those are the protesters, 50,000 people, we not even counting the real reason for next week when the Republican National Convention gets underway. How many people will be involved with just that? What an economic boom for the Twin Cities areas.

So keep in mind, tropical storm Gustav [as of 11:00 PM Thursday] and currently located over Jamaica [hang in there Jamaica] could make landfall sometime during next weeks RNC. So there is talk of delaying the convention a couple of days to make sure we have everything in order where ever the potential hurricane makes landfall. What does that do to all of these protesters plans? I would imagine many are flying into the Twin Cities just for the RNC and have a schedule time to leave, but if the convention is delayed, will the protesters just go away?

Also keep in mind, people have been arested/detained for taking photos before the convention has even started. Fox 9 News Report

Republican National Convention Sept 1-4

The big news in the Twin Cities happens next week from September 1-4 when the Republican National Convention moves into the Xcel Energy Center. Right now, the Democrats are having their turn in Denver. I've been following the protests outside of the convention in Denver mainly. I do plan on taking photos during the RNC, but I'm starting to worry about being around the negative environment. It's a rare photo event and I'm finding myself losing confidence in getting out there.

I was reading a local Twin Cities blog about taking photos at the RNC, this reply is what has me worried. Keep in mind, this is worst case scenario

1. stay close to the cops (even in this day and age, you're safer around them than in the crowd)
2. if you have goggles, take them. if not, consider getting some
3. take a water bottle and a couple of rags... not for drinking, but for soaking the rag in case the tear gas starts flying
4. try to have someone go with you to watch your back... when you've got your face pressed against the back of the camera, it's not easy to see the bottle flying your way
5. know your exits
6. be prepared to lose your equipment (one tv cameraman got between the kkk and a group of protestors and had to use the camera as a shield)

this is all worst case scenario kind of stuff, but it's better to be prepared.

So do I still go? Do I need to worry?