Alongside the peace activists protesting the Republican National Convention back in September of 2008 were the violent anarchists. While the peace crowd wanted to make their voices heard, the violent anarchists wanted to shut the RNC08 down by wrecking ****. The violent anarchists use the peace movement as cover -- they always have and they always will.
While I was aghast at the over-the-top actions of Ramsey County Sheriff Bob "Gestapo Bob" Fletcher, the violent anarchists piss me off in another way. Dumping a bag of rocks or sand (whatever it was) from an overpass onto a bus full of Republican delegates simply isn't cool.
Neither are molotov cocktails.
-- cross-posted from MN Progressive Project --
David Guy McKay, 22, was sentenced today to 48 months in federal prison for making and possessing Molotov cocktails at last year's Republican National Convention in St. Paul.
McKay, who pleaded guilty in March, was indicted for filling eight wine bottles with a mixture of gasoline and motor oil while staying in an apartment not far from St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center, site of the convention.
Austin, Texas residents McKay and Bradley Neal Crowder, 23, had come north to St. Paul in August as part of a group from Texas that intended to disrupt the convention, prosecutors said.
(Star Tribune)
Crowder and McKay's actions are exactly what types like Gestapo Bob will point to as justification that that the weapons-out raids and black-clad, anonymous stormtroopers were necessary.
The problem is separating the peaceful protesters from the violent thugs.
The problem is separating the good cops just doing their jobs from the "thumpers" who love an opportunity to beat and pepper spray people they don't like.
The violent anarchists and the violent cops both hide amongst the masses. They always have and they always will.
-- cross-posted from MN Progressive Project --