Free Republic

University of Minnesota staff were key coordinators of the recent violent protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC). The university employees are also members of the local clerical union of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. The AFSCME is part of the AFL-CIO union. Protests turned violent at the 2008 RNC located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Police have arrested hundreds of demonstrators for violent attacks on police officers and bystanders and other more nuisance crimes. The Saint Paul Police have identified an anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee as being at the center of the violence....

Numerous Minneapolis-Saint Paul area EMS agencies, headed by the U.S. Secret Service, undertook special preparations to handle EMS operations during the Republican National Convention held Sept 1-4, 2008. Following is an inside account of the experience along with some lessons to take away for future events. Fake Ambulance Spotted On Tuesday, the second day of the RNC, a Twin Cities Paramedic spotted an "ambulance" with unusual generic markings in the city of St. Paul. The medic had attended RNC briefings on the need for heightened awareness, and as an Iraq War Veteran, he was well-educated and possessed a keen eye...

Mordecai Specktor says his 19-year-old son, Max, "has never been in a fight" and is "not a violent person." "He's an anarchist," said Specktor, the publisher and editor of Minnesota's Jewish newspaper, the American Jewish World. He's also "a University of Minnesota student, Jewishly educated." His son, he said, is "a wonderful guy." Max Specktor is also now branded a terrorist after his arrest earlier this month, along with seven others, on charges of planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He's been charged with conspiring to riot "in furtherance of terrorism" and could face up to...