[UPDATE04]Police Raid Independent Media Center and Multiple Local Houses in Twin Cities Ahead of RNC.

The Twin Cities Independent Media Center was just raided by the police and shut down. Having worked extensively with TC Indymedia folks for years, I know first-hand that they are avid journalists who have a multi-year history of covering important local stories. Ongoing coverage is available at: http://twincities.indymedia.org

Details are still coming in, but the official line appears to be that they're shutting the place down for building code violations. The fact that they raided the space, handcuffed people, photographed people and took down information from their IDs, and confiscated hard drives and laptops seems to contradict this official reasoning. It looks like the police have also raided (as of two hours ago) the Food Not Bombs house (a group of vegans that hands out food and opposes war) and a second house (just an few minutes ago).

This is going on right now. This is clearly a very wide-reaching and well-orchestrated police action to shut down independent media coverage and disrupt local organizing efforts ahead of the RNC. First Amendment be damned.

Please help spread the word.

[UPDATE01]A third private residence was just raided by the police.

[UPDATE023]Another location raided by police bringing the total to 45:

• 2301 23rd Ave South (home to Minneapolis chapter of Food Not Bombs)
• 3240 17th Ave South
• 3500 Harriet Ave South
• 627 Smith Avenue (RNC Convergence Space)
• 951 Iglehart

[UPDATE04]Just when you thought it couldn't get more big brotherly, legal observers have now confirmed that "snatch squads" in unmarked cars have been grabbing people off the streets in the Twin Cities. Lawyers on the scene at 3240 17th Ave are also reporting that the city says the house "will stay boarded up unless code violation is fixed by 6pm" -- the code violations being that the doors were kicked in by police during their raid today. One of the people detained by police during their 951 Iglehart raid is a reporter for "Democracy Now!" -- ironically, I had e-mailed Amy Goodman earlier today with a heads-up about what was happening in the Twin Cities.

--Sascha