“While we are marching against the war on Sept. 1, we also want to open up more space to protest the Republican war on the poor at home and abroad throughout the four days of the RNC. More than 95% of the space around the Xcel center has been set aside for Republicans and the corporate media. We can not accept that,” states Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee. Buechner is an organizer of the Poor People’s Contingent that will march in the Sept. 1 anti-war protest.

The plaintiffs in this lawsuit are:

• Welfare Rights Committee, a grassroots group of low-income families, current and former welfare recipients and working poor that is fighting for economic justice.
• Twin Cities Peace Campaign – Focus on Iraq, a committee that opposes military intervention in Iraq through educational programs, speaking events, vigils and protests.
• Tracy Molm, resident of Hennepin County, student organizer and member of Students for a Democratic Society
• Cherrene Horazuk, resident of Hennepin County, Chief Steward of AFSCME 3800 and organizer around labor issues.
• Mick Kelly, resident of Hennepin County, wrongfully arrested in Saint Paul for leafleting at the Obama rally in June.

Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild states, “The plaintiffs have the constitutional right to use the streets and sidewalks of the city of Saint Paul to speak out against the war and economic injustice at the RNC. This lawsuit seeks to protect those rights and allow for an anti-war, social justice message to be heard by the Republican delegates and the people of this country.”

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St. Paul, MN – Organizers of the massive anti-war march scheduled for Sept. 1, the opening day of the Republican National Convention, slammed the Saint Paul city council for turning down the permit appeal, May 21. By a six to one vote, the Council voted to uphold the unworkable permit that was issued for the protest on May 15.

“The permit issued by the city May 15 does not allow for the massive anti-war march that we are organizing for Sept. 1. People are coming from all over the country to protest the war on Iraq. Tens of thousands are expected to march on the Xcel Center. The permit issued by the city does not allow for that in practice,” said Meredith Aby of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

In testimony before the city council, Aby talked about the problems with the permit. She noted that the start and end times will not allow for many of the demonstrators to make it from the starting point at the Minnesota state capitol building to the Xcel Center. She also noted that the limited turnaround area at the Xcel Center and the expectation that demonstrators would march back on the same route that they came were unworkable.

Bruce Nestor of the National Lawyers Guild told the council that the permit did not meet the constitutional requirements for allowing free speech. Statements criticizing the city’s permit – from Leslie Cagen, of United for Peace with Justice and Sara Flounders, of the Troops Out Now Coalition – were distributed to council members.

In a press conference before the city council meeting began, Deb Konechne of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War stated that politicians who were interfering with the planned anti-war march were in fact complicit with the war in Iraq.

Organizers of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War will continue the fight for permits that allow for a visible, mass protest as RNC opens Sept. 1.

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