Salon.com and Firedoglake are doing some great reporting on massive police crackdowns on political activists in Minneapolis, where the Republican National Convention is getting under way. Apparently, the police use bullshit laws ("fire code violations", "conspiracy to riot") in order to raid the homes and gathering places of political activists and try to drum up charges against them in order to get them out of play for the duration of the convention. They come in heavily armed and in flak jackets, seize laptops and journals, household chemicals and potential bomb-making equipment. What really appears to be happening is that they are trying to cripple the organising capacity and morale of left wing radicals in Minneapolis in order to keep things quiet for the convention. It's blatantly political abuse of police power and the suspension of the right to organise. I hope somebody loses their jobs over this.

I heard some rumours online that this was going on as well during the Democratic convention (though from what I could tell not in a very systematic way). Anybody else hear that?