St. Paul Bravely Drops Charges Against Reporters At Republican Convention

During the weird hurricane prayer service /unveiling of Sarah Palin trade show in St. Paul a few weeks back -- which feels like exactly One Thousand Years ago -- there were also some street protests. And the "Minnesota Nice" armored clone-army SWAT monster cops arrested some 800 ne'er-do-wells and guttersnipes for marching around and, in one kind of pathetic incident, throwing some Clorox on the slacks of an elderly delegate. Anyway, there were some News Reporters (liberals) out there just cold reportin' on the action, and the mean cops arrested a bunch of them!

Well, the St. Paul District Attorney just said "forget about it" to the various media people -- from hapless AP reporters toDemocracy Now!star Amy Goodman -- arrested by the fascist pigs.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said Friday that the city attorney's office recommended against prosecuting reporters for the misdemeanor charge.

"This decision reflects the values we have in St. Paul to protect and promote our First Amendment rights to freedom of the press," Coleman said in a prepared statement.

Ha ha, whatever. He isn't even Norm Coleman's brother. But all St. Paul politicians are required, by law, to be named Coleman.

Anyway: This whole dumb kabuki protest/cops street melodrama has happened at exactly every single major American political convention since 1968: There are protests, cops are sent in to bust up the protests, some reporters from Pacifica Radio get caught in the chaos, and then everybody yells about the police state and then the charges are dropped against the reporters.

 Reporters arrested at GOP convention: No charges [Star Tribune]