The Wake

Council Member Cam Gordon

Right before an important vote concerning protest protection at the upcoming Republican National Convention, an early morning attempt to speak out at a Minneapolis City Council meeting against the resolution led to the forced removal of an activist from the council room Friday.

Jude Ortiz, a member of Coldsnap Legal Collective, stood in front of City Council members and read a “Reprobation for the City of Minneapolis” criticizing last week’s committee passing of a resolution promising to ban police use of rubber bullets and confiscation of recording devices at the upcoming Republican National Convention “except when the use of force is necessary.” Ortiz only got a few sentences in before police removed him outside the building and into a squad car. Council President Barb Johnson was first to jump on Ortiz, repeatedly telling him sit down, but Rybak’s attempt to do the same was more somber, as he wore an expression of sympathy — complete with puppy dog eyes —and politely asked Ortiz to stop whatever it was he was doing.

After the brief ruckus, the City Council voted in favor of the resolution, this time with more amendments from Ward 2 council member Cam Gordon tacked to it. They prohibit:

• Plastic and rubber bullets fired from “traditional firearms.”
• Camera confiscation that doesn’t meet “First and Fourth Amendment Constitutional protections.”
• Targeting “law abiding persons not engaged in demonstrating, including journalists, camera people, and legal observers, for enforcement actions.”

“I think we were successful in getting resolutions,” Gordon said. “The fact that we got this much passed should reconcile some folks that protection from the police is better.” Citing that the final bill doesn’t address protesters’ medical attention, Gordon admitted it has “probably fewer protections” for protesters than the laws put into place in 2000. But that won’t cut his optimism. Gordon contends that medical attention to protesters are “addressed in other ways” separate from legislation.

It can’t hurt to mention that each of Gordon’s added amendments begin with the clause, “In concurrence with MPD policies.”

Representatives from Coldsnap and Communities United Against Police Brutality — two organizations likely to oppose the final language of the bill —have not yet commented.

Tags: Cam Gordon, civil disobedience, Jude Ortiz, protest, Republican National Convention