Brett Ziegler :: Blog

The final day of the protests was a combination of several different standoffs between protesters and the police. The situation was tense, but did not get out of control until the end when police used flash grenades, smoke canisters, and rubber bullets to control and arrest the remain protester who were marching through the street illegally. 

The word on the streets was that things were supposed to get pretty crazy after a Rage Against the Machine show in Minneapolis. When the concert was over, fans filled the streets and protested, but it never got out of hand. The police had it under control pretty quick. A group then splintered off and marched through the streets of Downtown Minneapolis until they were surrounded by police and arrested.

The second day of the protest during the RNC was very eventful. It started off with rally at a park that turned into a fiasco when the police arrested a reporter and a couple of demonstrators. The rally then marched to the capitol where it met up with a lot of disappointed concert goers, as the organizers did not let Rage Against the Machine play a show. The march then finished at the convention center where it soon became a stand off between protesters and the riot police. Again, the riot police effectively  broke up the crowd with stun grenades, tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets. Tomorrow I am going to buy googles, as I have come to realize for the second day in a row, tear gas is extremely painful and limits your picture taking ability.

Today I shot the first day of protests at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis. Over 10,000 people participated in the planned demonstration. Anarchist groups also showed up to cause chaos throughout the convention area. Police used tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, flash grenades, smoke canisters, and shear force to try to control the rioting protester. At the end of the day 284 people were arrested. This was by far the craziest event I have ever witnessed.