Glenn Greenwald

Monday Sept. 8, 2008 17:09 EDT

Salon Radio: Jeff Guntzel on the St. Paul protests

(updated below)

There are still numerous unanswered questions in the wake of the mass arrests and indiscriminate use of force against protesters, reporters, lawyers and others in St. Paul last week for the GOP Convention. An Associated Press article this weekend reported that "more than 800 arrests were reported" and that "at least 19 journalists, including two reporters from The Associated Press, were among those held by police." The fact that numerous reporters covering the Convention -- along with hundreds of peaceful and law-abiding protesters and others -- were arrested by police, had their hands bound behind their backs with plastic cuffs, and were then put in a cage for hours is truly reprehensible, but it has received very little attention.

The vast bulk of the reporting on these matters has been done by independent and local journalists. My guest today on Salon Radio is Jeff Severns Guntzel, who covered the protests and various police actions for The Minnesota Independent. Guntzel has a piece today on the numerous, highly dangerous weapons used by the Police indiscriminately to subdue crowds, and another article recounting some of his first-hand observations, accompanied by photographs.

We discuss the instances of excessive and provocative police actions during the course of the week and the role which the Federal Government played in these arrests. The discussion is roughly 20 minutes in length. A transcript is here. The interview can be heard by clicking PLAY on the player at the bottom of the post.

UPDATE: Here is video of Democracy Now producer Nicole Salazar being pushed around and arrested by the police as she was trying to cover the St. Paul protests. The footage was taken by Salazar as she was pushed onto the ground; you can hear her screaming "Press! Press!" to no avail whatsoever:

I was interviewed by AntiWar Radio's Scott Horton regarding the St. Paul protests yesterday. That can be heard here. My interview with Guntzel is here:

-- Glenn Greenwald

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I was previously a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York. I am the author of two New York Times Bestselling books: "How Would a Patriot Act?" (May, 2006), a critique of the Bush administration's use of executive power, and "A Tragic Legacy" (June, 2007), which examines the Bush legacy. My most recent book, "Great American Hypocrites", examines the manipulative electoral tactics used by the GOP and propagated by the establishment press, and was released in April, 2008, by Random House/Crown.