Glenn Greenwald

Monday Sept. 8, 2008 17:09 EDT

Salon Radio: Jeff Guntzel on the St. Paul protests

(updated below)

There are still numerous unanswered questions in the wake of the mass arrests and indiscriminate use of force against protesters, reporters, lawyers and others in St. Paul last week for the GOP Convention. An Associated Press article this weekend reported that "more than 800 arrests were reported" and that "at least 19 journalists, including two reporters from The Associated Press, were among those held by police." The fact that numerous reporters covering the Convention -- along with hundreds of peaceful and law-abiding protesters and others -- were arrested by police, had their hands bound behind their backs with plastic cuffs, and were then put in a cage for hours is truly reprehensible, but it has received very little attention.

The vast bulk of the reporting on these matters has been done by independent and local journalists. My guest today on Salon Radio is Jeff Severns Guntzel, who covered the protests and various police actions for The Minnesota Independent. Guntzel has a piece today on the numerous, highly dangerous weapons used by the Police indiscriminately to subdue crowds, and another article recounting some of his first-hand observations, accompanied by photographs.

We discuss the instances of excessive and provocative police actions during the course of the week and the role which the Federal Government played in these arrests. The discussion is roughly 20 minutes in length. A transcript is here. The interview can be heard by clicking PLAY on the player at the bottom of the post.

UPDATE: Here is video of Democracy Now producer Nicole Salazar being pushed around and arrested by the police as she was trying to cover the St. Paul protests. The footage was taken by Salazar as she was pushed onto the ground; you can hear her screaming "Press! Press!" to no avail whatsoever:

I was interviewed by AntiWar Radio's Scott Horton regarding the St. Paul protests yesterday. That can be heard here. My interview with Guntzel is here:

-- Glenn Greenwald

Share
- Email
- Digg
- Facebook
- StumbleUpon
- Reddit
Print

Permalink

Read comments (32)

Currently in Glenn Greenwald's Blog

Salon Radio: Dr. Nathan Burroughs on dynastic politics: Dynastic succession -- Caroline Kennedy v. Andrew Cuomo -- is becoming increasingly common in the U.S. politics. What does that mean for democracy?; Friday, Jan 9, 2009 14:46 EST
Both parties cheerlead still more loudly for Israel's war: As the body count in Gaza piles up, the U.S. Congress acts overwhelmingly to insinuate itself into the war with blind support for Israel.; Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 22:24 EST
America then and now: It's now commonplace for our political and media elites to explicitly renounce the principles of justice which the U.S. long led the world in advocating.; Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 18:03 EST
The DOJ pursues the "real criminal" in the NSA spying scandal: While the high-level lawbreakers are protected from consequences by our political class, only the courageous whistle-blower is subject to criminal prosecution.; Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009 14:25 EST

Glenn Greenwald Radio

Subscribe with iTunes or RSS

Calendar

January 2009
Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

E-mail

GGreenwald@salon.com

Salon Daily Newsletter

Get Salon in your mailbox!

Glenn Greenwald's Unclaimed Territory

I was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. I am the author of two New York Times Bestselling books: "How Would a Patriot Act?" (May, 2006), a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, and "A Tragic Legacy" (June, 2007), which examines the Bush legacy. My most recent book, "Great American Hypocrites", examines the manipulative electoral tactics used by the GOP and propagated by the establishment press, and was released in April, 2008, by Random House/Crown.