Anarchists: How do you like us now?

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Should we still believe the whole “we’re just engaged in peaceful activities” mantra from the more extreme groups who gathered in St. Paul for the Republican National Convention? We don’t know — yet — whether the people inflicting the damage on downtown St. Paul at this hour are the same people who claimed innocence after last weekend’s police raids, but they succeeded in muting the point made by thousands of peaceful protests. And the Republican National Convention went on as scheduled at the Xcel Energy Center.

The RNC Welcoming Committee sent out an email to the media with a subject line “grain of salt.”

Just a quick note for all you media folks to remember. The police and the mayor are charged with maintaining order and the semblance of order. They lie to the media and they lie to the public. The people are in the streets and the spectacle of the RNC has been crashed.

And now for coverage of people who protested without violence:

Slideshow of the protest

And some video of the police preparations: