For Immediate Release

March 21, 2008

Organizers of RNC anti-war protest seek injunction in Federal Court, demand St. Paul grant march permits

Press Conference
Monday, March 24, noon

In front of Federal Building,
300 S 4th St, Minneapolis

Attorneys from the National Lawyers Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union will file a complaint in federal court, Monday, March 24 on behalf of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. The attorneys are seeking a preliminary injunction requiring the City of Saint Paul to grant the permits for our September 1 anti-war march.

“It is our hope that legal action will help us win the permit we need - one that takes a massive, anti-war march to the doors of the Republican Convention at the Xcel Center. On September 1, 2008, tens of thousands plan to take to the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota, to say no to the war and occupation in Iraq,” says Marie Braun of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War, made up of more than 100 organizations from across the country, began seeking permits for this demonstration days after the Republicans announced they would hold their national convention in Minnesota. While we have a permit to assemble and rally at the State Capitol, the City of St. Paul continues to withhold a permit for a march on the Xcel Center, where the convention will be held.

“For months, city officials promised that the permit process would move forward at the beginning of March. On March 3rd, the Coalition finally received a formal response to our application: a “provisional” permit to begin a march at the State Capitol on September 1st, with no route, no times, and with a suggestion that whatever route we are eventually granted will not be for our exclusive use for the duration of our protest,” says Jess Sundin of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

The document received by the Coalition was a mostly-blank form, and was accompanied by a set of guidelines that unreasonably restrict the rights of any protesters planning actions during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

For further information contact info@protestrnc2008.org [1]