"On Friday, August 31, nineteen people were arrested after police brutally
attacked cyclists with Tasers, pepper spray, and excessive physical force.
The cyclists were part of the monthly Critical Mass bike ride.

This month's Critical Mass was a kick-off for the pReNC, a weekend of
organizing against the Republican National Convention to be held in St.
Paul in 2008. The RNC Welcoming Committee (RNC-WC), a group hosting the
pReNC, gave a public speech before the ride exhorting riders to avoid
confrontation throughout the weekend. While the police as a whole use
excessive and brutal force in our communities on a daily basis, we feel
that yesterday's police response was highly inconsistent with their usual
behavior.

The bikers did not provoke this incident, as they committed no violent or
destructive acts. Unmarked cars filmed and targeted specific people. A
State Patrol helicopter accompanied the entire event. Three police cars
followed throughout the ride, attempting to intimidate the riders by
sounding their sirens regularly and driving into the crowd, but issued no
official dispersal orders.

Two cruisers- #993 and #998- drove into the back of the Mass at the corner
of LaSalle and Grand. Witnesses report that at least one bicyclist was hit
by a squad car. At this point, the police began to arrest and pepper spray
those who had gathered at the site of the accident. They pointed Tasers at
a nonviolent crowd, as if to create a sense of panic. Nearly twenty squad
cars arrived on the scene. Over forty police created a line formation in
which they advanced on bikers, arresting, and brutalizing those who fell
behind.

One cyclist was pepper sprayed when she attempted to obey dispersal
orders. She was then handcuffed and held to the ground as a third officer
Tasered her in the neck. Witnesses were also pepper sprayed and Tasered
and one bystander was amongst those arrested. Most of the nineteen
arrestees were held on “Probable Cause” for Riot charges and their bail
was set at $3000 each.

We believe that the police aggression experienced last night was a
pre-meditated attempt to intimidate anti-RNC organizers. Although members
of the RNC-WC were the intended recipients of police violence, the
officers present exercised no discretion in their brutality. All Critical
Mass riders were subject to the police's use of unrestrained force. This
was, with no question, a police practice run for next year's RNC. When the
RNC-WC says that the State brings violence to the streets and leaves
people, pacifist or otherwise, with no peaceful option for resistance,
these acts of brutal force are what we speak of. We do not expect the
police to be held accountable by a system that necessitates their
violence; however, we remain committed to confronting this repression
wherever it exists and with whatever means available.

We will not be intimidated.

###"

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2007minn-cm-statement