Protester presence at Republican convention could overwhelm

The Associated Press

Article Last Updated: 06/25/2007 10:21:21 AM CDT

ST. PAUL—Anti-war activists suspect Republicans chose the Twin Cities for their 2008 convention in part to reduce the number of expected protesters.

The protesters say that won’t matter.

“We’re thinking 50,000 to 100,000,” said Jess Sundin, of the Minneapolis-based Anti-War Committee.

That would at least double the 45,000 delegates, volunteers and media members expected at the convention scheduled for Sept. 1-4 of next year at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

Many activists met over the weekend at United for Peace and Justice’s Third National Assembly, held near Chicago. Another set of left-leaning groups meets this week in Atlanta, with planning for convention protests on the program for both meetings.

“We’re going to do a workshop on the RNC” at the Atlanta meeting, Sundin said. “It should be a good opportunity to meet people and get them to Minnesota next year.”

United for Peace and Justice is the nation’s largest anti-war coalition, and since its 2002 founding has demonstrated an ability to turn out hundreds of thousands of people. That included half a million protesters on the eve of the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, and 300,000 in January for an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C.

Leslie Cagan, co-founder of the group, said the political conventions afford a prime-time opportunity.

“We want to get in on the media attention,” she said. “We want to put our agenda out, also. It’s an opportunity
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to put pressure on the people who want to be the leadership of this country. I can’t predict numbers, but we’re going to do our best to turn out large numbers of people.”

It’s all adding up to an unprecedented weekend in St. Paul—tens of thousands of convention attendees, possibly even more protesters and the tail end of the Minnesota State Fair, which drew 160,000 people on its final day in 2006.

It could strain St. Paul’s resources, which will be bolstered by a $50 million federal grant earmarked for convention security.

Dave Titus, head of St. Paul’s police union, said he’s concerned about staffing that weekend as officers try to keep peace at the convention while continuing to patrol the rest of the city. He’s meeting this week with officials from New York City’s police union to research their response to the 2004 Republican National Convention.

“Tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, that’s fine. They’re not going to cause major issues,” Titus said. “St. Paul cops are going to treat people fairly and professionally.”

But, he added, “How many are going to show up that want to cause chaos and commit crimes just to make a statement?”