Protesters say RNC route is problematic, time frame is unfair

Police say they've struck a difficult balance, but marchers say they want to be seen in prime time.

By ANTHONY LONETREE, Star Tribune

Last update: June 5, 2008 - 8:43 PM

St. Paul police have mapped out the long-awaited route that war protesters will be expected to use to march on the Republican National Convention Sept. 1: a 2-mile trek the city contends strikes the "difficult balance" between security and free-speech rights.

With marchers passing within 300 feet of the convention site at the Xcel Energy Center, Deputy Chief Matt Bostrom said Wednesday, protesters, who could number in the tens of thousands, will have access that he says is "unprecedented" for a national political convention.

But attorneys and others representing the protesters argued that the route poses logistical challenges for people as they move, and that the time frame set by police for the march ensures the Republican Party has the entire evening's spotlight to itself.

The deadline for the permit issued to the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War calls for the march to run from noon to 2 p.m., according to Meredith Aby, the group's spokeswoman. Bostrom said he expected the march, once it doubled back to the State Capitol, to wrap up by 4 p.m. the first day of the convention.

But while police have issued a route, it may not be the last word on the issue.

U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen has scheduled a hearing Friday on a lawsuit filed by attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild on behalf of protesters, during which a push for the coalition's preferred route may be pursued.

When asked how his release of the march route might affect the lawsuit, Bostrom said that even if he had an opinion, he couldn't comment.

Teresa Nelson, legal counsel for the state ACLU, who sat with reporters at Wednesday's news conference, said attorneys plan to take a closer look today at the permit and the march route to gauge how it might affect Friday's proceedings.

Free-speech area set

The Sept. 1 demonstration is likely to be the biggest single protest during the convention, having been endorsed by dozens of groups, including the major national anti-war coalitions.

Protesters were seeking a march route along John Ireland Boulevard to W. Kellogg Boulevard and then along the length of the Xcel.

The police-issued route runs south from the state Capitol on Cedar Street into downtown and then west along W. 7th Street to the triangular park-like space across from the Dorothy Day Center. At W. 7th and W. 5th streets, marchers would be within a stone's throw, Bostrom said, of the Xcel Energy Center.

Throughout the four-day convention, the triangular area also would be the spot to which protesters could come to speak out, police spokesman Tom Walsh said.

While attorneys for the protesters bemoaned the city's failure to grant a prime-time march, that permanent free-speech area is likely to be in full view of CNN, which is expected to set up shop atop the Eagle Street Grille.

Staff writer Randy Furst contributed to this report. Anthony Lonetree • 651-298-1545

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