I have yet to finish all my Democratic National Convention posting since I’ve been on near constant travel ever since I left Denver (I’m in Alabama right now in a hotel where some Gustav refugees are also staying). I am however, in touch with an Indian American woman (let’s call her PK) who is in Minneapolis this week. PK is at the RNC as a medic who is treating protesters (and possibly some anarchists) who are at the convention. I asked her if she’d be nice enough to send me a dispatch and she sent the following last night:
Today I spent most of the day at a street clinic, organized by local and national activists concerned about the health of those involved in protests, especially those subject to police brutality. We’re housed in a church, right across from one of the main hospitals in St. Paul (this is where I do some of my medical rotations). We’re close to the capitol building, but a mile from the Xcel Center. This center is here to address the acute needs of those in medical need, but either unable (due to lack of health insurance) or uninterested (due to lack of trust with the medical establishment or record system) to access their medical care at the mainstream health center.Yesterday, many of the medics out on the streets were taken in with the protestors. The general belief is that medics are being targetted for arrest particularly because without the support staff there to help the “rioters”, the protestors will be less likely to attempt further action.
The Poor People’s March for Economic Human Rights took place today. It was notably smaller than yesterdays demonstration, and the arrests and retaliation was smaller, though the police presence is out of proportion to the number of marchers. In clinic, the entire afternoon and evening we kept getting texts that tear gas was used at this-and-that street and we were expecting a deluge of tear gassed individuals to show up, any minute. But we had very few visits, mainly because people are being decontaminated on the streets. At the clinic, we have a larger makeshift decontamination center (basically, the person strips, we hose them down to remove all residues of the gas, clean out their eyes with solution, and have them put on new clothes), and it seemed to attract a lot of unneccessary attention late in the evening because we had all the “fresh clothes” set up on the grass and the Poor People’s March veered towards our street. A collection of police came by and began asking what we’re doing, who is renting the space, and other unnecessaries. They were told to return with a warrant, and the remainder of the evening was high stress, as the main organizers began to prepare us for being taken in, in the case of a raid. My main worry through this whole thing was typically desi— I’m studying for the USMLE and can’t afford to go to jail right now! AND WHAT WILL MY PARENTS THINK??!
I didn’t take many pictures, except for a helicopter shot up in the sky, and my arm sharpie’d up with the numbers of lawyers’ agency we were supposed to call in the case we got arrested— our one call! I was a bit worried about taking photos of things around town—- less attention, the better.Anyways, when I left the clinic, there were tons of police all over the streets. More than the number of “civilian” people. It was a nerve-wracking walk, particularly because we had been warned that others leaving the clinic with medic badges had been taken in for no reason earlier today. I didn’t have any trouble, except for some police stare-downs.
I had heard there was some sort of impromptu march led by Rage Against the Machine, and that was where a lot of the direct drama was happening, especially use of tear gas. Did not get to the Xcel Center area today.
There are definitely a lot of parties happening all over town. I had to go pick up some milk and was a little surprised at the number of places decked out with lights and lanes closed on main throughways. This definitely is not the sleepy-town Minneapolis I am used to, but at the same time, I feel like outside of the three mile bubble around St. Paul, you can live business-as-usual if you’d like. I don’t feel excitement tingling the Cities. But maybe that’s because I’m not a “good-ol-boy” and am not around the right crowd to pick up that vibe.
