Approved streets can fit about 40,000, short of turnout estimates
By Jason Hoppin
An analysis of the route granted to protesters for marching at the Republican National Convention raises questions about whether it's large enough to contain a standing crowd of 50,000 comfortably, let alone a moving crowd of people carrying peace signs and chanting anti-war slogans.
The route, which runs from the Capitol to the Xcel Energy Center along Cedar and West Seventh streets, has a surface area of less than 400,000 square feet — enough for a loose crowd of 40,000, using standard crowd-estimation measures.
That's without factoring in medians, barriers, protest signs, strollers and other objects that might subtract from the space available to marchers.
The St. Paul Police Department expressed confidence that the route granted two weeks ago could accommodate the anticipated number of protesters. Spokesman Tom Walsh cited the June 1 Grand Old Day event in St. Paul as evidence of the route's adequacy.
"Look at what 300,000 people look like in a space about as long," Walsh said.
Walsh also noted that the protest will be staggered, with groups starting the march in succession. He stressed that he did not believe the route's length would be an issue.
But protesters said it verifies their concerns. Sarah Martin, with the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, said her group believes from past experience that the route is not adequate.
"The police are underestimating the effect of that many people in that small of an area," Martin said. "... Everybody seems to know it, actually. The instinct is it won't happen in an orderly way."
Protesters have questioned the route on several fronts and filed an unsuccessful appeal to the St. Paul City Council. They question the time frame — the march along the route is authorized by police to begin at noon Sept. 1 — and the fact that marchers are expected to retrace their steps along West Seventh Street once they reach the Xcel Energy Center.
"If the route has to double back on itself, then it means you can only fit about 20,000," said Sara Flounders, an organizer for the New York-based Troops Out Now Coalition, which plans to protest the convention.
The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War is seeking an alternative route that crosses Interstate 94 along John Ireland Boulevard and arrives at the Xcel Energy Center via Kellogg Boulevard. While protesters prefer the route because of its visibility, it is not longer — at about three-quarters of a mile, it is identical in length to the route through downtown St. Paul.
The convention, where the Republican Party is expected to nominate John McCain as its presidential candidate, will run Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center.
The Pioneer Press measured the distance of the march route and the varying width of the streets along the route. It also factored in a triangular block across from Xcel Energy Center that will be used as a free-speech area, along with the streets surrounding the triangle. The figure was then divided by 10 square feet, a standard area used, per person, for estimating the size of a crowd.
Whether the route's length is cause for concern also depends on whether protesters' predictions of 50,000 marchers are reasonable.
Gauging expected crowd size by looking at past conventions is difficult. While both Democratic and Republican conventions have been targeted, much of the anti-war movement's ire is directed at Republican lawmakers. The only Republican convention since the Iraq war began was in 2004 in New York City — and St. Paul is no New York.
There, an estimated 500,000 people marched the day before the convention. Local protest organizers have estimated a fraction of that number will be in St. Paul.
But there are reasons to believe the protesters' estimate of 50,000 is plausible.
Two years ago, police estimated a crowd of 30,000 for an immigrants' rights rally near the state Capitol. That was the largest crowd since 35,000 congregated outside the Capitol following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The Twin Cities also seem ripe to generate the kind of interest needed for a crowd that size. Both cities have reputations for being liberal, with former St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly suffering an overwhelming re-election defeat following his 2004 endorsement of President Bush.
Furthermore, there are dozens of colleges and universities in the two cities, with the 10 largest having a combined enrollment in excess of 100,000. Many students will have just begun a new academic year when the convention begins and will not be in class because of the Labor Day holiday Sept. 1.
"I think we have every reason to believe that the organizers of the march and rally have their finger on the pulse," said Judith LeBlanc, national organizer for New York-based United for Peace and Justice, an umbrella group that includes 1,400 left-leaning organizations. "From our vantage point, the mood out there is to be in the streets."
Teresa Nelson, a lawyer from the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union who represents the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, is conducting a similar analysis.
"We are looking at capacity," Nelson said, "but we haven't come to any conclusions yet."
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
U.S Out of Iraq: All Out for Sept. 1 RNC protest
Editorial by Freedom Road Socialist Organization
On Sept. 1, 2008 the Republican Party will hold its national convention at the Xcel Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They will be there to nominate John McCain for president, and justify the wars against - and occupations of - Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republicans will gather to celebrate economic policies that have brought riches to the few and foreclosures, homelessness and unemployment to the many. Republican delegates will cheer the anti-immigrant attacks as party leaders try to use racism to cement their reactionary supporters. We can also expect attacks from the podium on women's rights to control our own bodies and attacks on gay marriage.
The main thing the Republicans will be doing in Saint Paul is building support for John McCain in his bid to continue Bush's policies of the past eight years. John McCain has said that the U.S. occupation of Iraq could last for 100 years and that he wants to make sure the rich remain as wealthy as possible by keeping tax cuts and the cuts to healthcare and education that go with them. The Republican National Convention (RNC) will try to shore up support and U.S. national chauvinist fervor for the Iraq occupation throughout the convention. Five years of war is more than long enough. The troops need to come home now so that the Iraqi people can take control of and begin to rebuild their own country. The government needs to stop running up trillions in debt that our children and grandchildren will be paying off and that will lead to even more cuts in health care, education and other human needs in the name of a failed strategy to dominate the Middle East.
All of us know what is wrong with the politics and policies of the Republicans. Sept. 1 is the time to change knowing into doing. Bush, Cheney and the lesser-known but equally powerful will be together on location in Saint Paul. The RNC is a prime opportunity to bring our demands directly to the war-makers. Not only will the architects of the occupation be in Saint Paul, 10,000 journalists from around the world will be there as well. This is one of those rare times when the whole world really will be watching and we cannot allow the only message to be shiny happy Republicans dancing on the dead men, women and children of Iraq for their own political gain. We have a right to march against the war and the Republican agenda. The police are seeking impede that right by issuing a permit that makes it difficult for tens of thousands to march on the Xcel Center. Organizers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul need our support between now and September to win the battle for an acceptable permit.
Many people are planning many different activities that will send powerful messages to both the Republicans and the world. The permitted march on Sept. 1, organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, is a very important event. In the course of the four days of the convention many movements with many tactics will be seeking to challenge the Republican agenda. While there may be differences of emphasis, issues or tactics, organizers are striving for a sense of unity and solidarity. Saint Paul police have already formed a special unit for the purpose of dividing us from each other. We can't allow them to succeed.
Organizers have come together around a number of important principles. These principles say in part that our solidarity will be based on respect for a diversity of tactics and the plans of other groups. That debates on tactics will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events. Another principle is opposition to state repression of dissent and a refusal to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others. Furthermore, a separation of time or space will be maintained to allow for different kinds of protests to take place. This set of principles is very good and is part of what will allow the largest and strongest demonstrations against the war and occupation.
The Republican Convention will come one week after the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Denver convention will also see protests against the war. For too long the Democrats have been complicit in carrying out the occupation of Iraq and they should also be held accountable for empty promises to end the war.
Here is a promise that we know will be kept. On Sept. 1 a diverse coalition of activists will gather to March on the RNC. Tens of thousands will march from the State Capitol to the Xcel Center to stop the war and oppose the Republican agenda. Peace activists and anti-imperialists, veterans, trade union members, immigrant workers, low-income families, anti-police brutality and anti-globalization activists, communists and anarchists will march together. We will march to be heard, we will march to stop the war and we will march to show the world that real opposition exists to the Republican agenda.
U.S. out of Iraq now
Money for human needs, not for war
Say no to the Republican agenda
Demand peace, justice and equality
On Sept. 1, 2008 the Republican Party will hold its national convention at the Xcel Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They will be there to nominate John McCain for president, and justify the wars against - and occupations of - Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republicans will gather to celebrate economic policies that have brought riches to the few and foreclosures, homelessness and unemployment to the many. Republican delegates will cheer the anti-immigrant attacks as party leaders try to use racism to cement their reactionary supporters. We can also expect attacks from the podium on women's rights to control our own bodies and attacks on gay marriage.
The main thing the Republicans will be doing in Saint Paul is building support for John McCain in his bid to continue Bush's policies of the past eight years. John McCain has said that the U.S. occupation of Iraq could last for 100 years and that he wants to make sure the rich remain as wealthy as possible by keeping tax cuts and the cuts to healthcare and education that go with them. The Republican National Convention (RNC) will try to shore up support and U.S. national chauvinist fervor for the Iraq occupation throughout the convention. Five years of war is more than long enough. The troops need to come home now so that the Iraqi people can take control of and begin to rebuild their own country. The government needs to stop running up trillions in debt that our children and grandchildren will be paying off and that will lead to even more cuts in health care, education and other human needs in the name of a failed strategy to dominate the Middle East.
All of us know what is wrong with the politics and policies of the Republicans. Sept. 1 is the time to change knowing into doing. Bush, Cheney and the lesser-known but equally powerful will be together on location in Saint Paul. The RNC is a prime opportunity to bring our demands directly to the war-makers. Not only will the architects of the occupation be in Saint Paul, 10,000 journalists from around the world will be there as well. This is one of those rare times when the whole world really will be watching and we cannot allow the only message to be shiny happy Republicans dancing on the dead men, women and children of Iraq for their own political gain. We have a right to march against the war and the Republican agenda. The police are seeking impede that right by issuing a permit that makes it difficult for tens of thousands to march on the Xcel Center. Organizers in Minneapolis and Saint Paul need our support between now and September to win the battle for an acceptable permit.
Many people are planning many different activities that will send powerful messages to both the Republicans and the world. The permitted march on Sept. 1, organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, is a very important event. In the course of the four days of the convention many movements with many tactics will be seeking to challenge the Republican agenda. While there may be differences of emphasis, issues or tactics, organizers are striving for a sense of unity and solidarity. Saint Paul police have already formed a special unit for the purpose of dividing us from each other. We can't allow them to succeed.
Organizers have come together around a number of important principles. These principles say in part that our solidarity will be based on respect for a diversity of tactics and the plans of other groups. That debates on tactics will stay internal to the movement, avoiding any public or media denunciations of fellow activists and events. Another principle is opposition to state repression of dissent and a refusal to assist law enforcement actions against activists and others. Furthermore, a separation of time or space will be maintained to allow for different kinds of protests to take place. This set of principles is very good and is part of what will allow the largest and strongest demonstrations against the war and occupation.
The Republican Convention will come one week after the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Denver convention will also see protests against the war. For too long the Democrats have been complicit in carrying out the occupation of Iraq and they should also be held accountable for empty promises to end the war.
Here is a promise that we know will be kept. On Sept. 1 a diverse coalition of activists will gather to March on the RNC. Tens of thousands will march from the State Capitol to the Xcel Center to stop the war and oppose the Republican agenda. Peace activists and anti-imperialists, veterans, trade union members, immigrant workers, low-income families, anti-police brutality and anti-globalization activists, communists and anarchists will march together. We will march to be heard, we will march to stop the war and we will march to show the world that real opposition exists to the Republican agenda.
U.S. out of Iraq now
Money for human needs, not for war
Say no to the Republican agenda
Demand peace, justice and equality
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