Originally Posted by Minnesota Public Radio

City Council member Dave Thune is calling the meeting for Sept. 24 in the Council chambers.

He says city officials and convention organizers have had a chance to weigh in, and he would like to hear what the public thought of the convention.

"The whole RNC experience left such a bad taste in so many people's mouths. There were so many experiences that were not good. It's not good to leave this on that kind of a note," said Thune. "Hopefully we're going to start moving toward healing the city, and bringing our police and our citizens and our peaceful war protesters all back together again. There were just too many things that happened that shouldn't have, and too many questions unanswered."

The meeting is scheduled for Sept. 24 at 5:30 p.m., and is open to the public.

Originally Posted by WCCO

One video shows an 18-year-old woman holding her hands up in peace as police marched toward her, repeatedly showering her with pepper spray. Other footage shows police entering a house with guns drawn, detaining residents.

One man claims he was tortured by jailers. In contrast, one woman says a police officer gave her a ride when he noticed she was tired after a march.

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Some, like Mike Whalen, expressed shock at how police raided his house the weekend before the convention.

"It just kind of blows my mind, because I've lived in St. Paul all my life, and this is just -- weird," he said, choking up. Another speaker who was at Whalen's house during the raid showed a video of police showing a search warrant that residents said had the wrong address on it. The video also showed police entering the house with guns drawn.

Bruce Nestor, president of the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, called for an independent investigation with a budget, the power to compel testimony and to subpoena records. He also called for discipline of officers who acted wrongly, and -- like many others -- asked that the charges against all protesters be dropped.

Leah Lane, a 19-year-old from Eau Claire, Wis., showed video of herself being repeatedly pepper sprayed and knocked down by police, as she was holding her fingers in the peace sign and saying "I love you." Lane, who was 18 at the time of her arrest, said police never told her why she had to move. She said she feels police were doing their job, but that too much force was used.

Another 19-year-old, Elliot Hughes of St. Paul, was visibly distraught as he claimed he was tortured in the Ramsey County Jail.

Hughes said he was punched and fell to the ground, and that his head was slammed on the jail floor. He said he was taken out of his cell to another area, where his ankles were bent backward. He said police applied extreme pressure to points under his jawbone and a bag was placed over his head. He also claimed he was denied food and water.

"I was screaming, crying, begging God for mercy," Hughes said. "One officer was even disgusting enough to say, 'Your God is not with you right now. We are all devils.' And this horrified me."

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

By the time convention protest organizer Jess Sundin spoke about 45 minutes in, the event had largely become a protest rally, with testimony alleging a broad array of police brutality and the suppression of civil liberties.

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But after some limited input from businesses, one issue clearly dominated the debate: the protests and the accompanying police response. More than 800 people were detained in St. Paul and Minneapolis, most of them in two mass arrests during the convention's first and last days.

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St. Paul Police Federation President Dave Titus said he didn't attend "because I knew there was a going to be a large contingency of people who could care less about the truth and that only wanted to bash cops."

He said he watched a portion of the meeting online and "much of it seemed like a bunch of dramatic false accusations.

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In the front row for most of the meeting sat former U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger, who was appointed by Mayor Chris Coleman to broadly review security-related issues of the RNC.

"It was interesting," Heffelfinger said as he left. "This was very helpful in trying to foresee the scope of what we'll be looking at. It will provide some questions for what we'll be focusing on." He declined additional commen

Originally Posted by Star Tribune

On Wednesday afternoon, Fletcher went on the offensive in a 70-minute news conference during which he accused Thune of sympathizing with anarchists and failing to recognize what the sheriff described as extraordinary police work at a time of chaos.

Using maps, photos and video recordings, he broke down the activities of anarchists between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the convention's first day, and he noted how police waited four hours before deploying mobile field force units to challenge them.

"Had they not been confronted at 3 o'clock, and had we gotten into a nighttime environment where they could've destroyed windows under the cover of darkness, much of this town would have been destroyed," Fletcher said.

Originally Posted by Minnesota Public Radio

But the most compelling testimony came from people like Elliot Hughes, 19, an activist from St. Paul who alleges guards at the Ramsey County jail beat him after he and other detainees started chanting for food.

Hughes said the officers slammed him into a concrete floor, knocking him out.

"I came back to consciousness in a pool of my own blood. I was taken into a hallway where a bag was put over my head. And it had a gag on the mouth," said Hughes. "I was taken into a detaining cell with no visible cameras. And the officers then twisted my ankles and used pressure-point tactics to torture me."

Hughes said he later vomited while the bag was still on his head. Later on, a doctor at the jail told Hughes he would start treating his injuries only after Hughes stopped crying.

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West Side resident and cyclist Steve Hirsch said the High Bridge and many streets in and around downtown were blocked off during the convention.

He said police officers offered little help on how he could find his way home. One even suggested he ride his bike along Interstate 35.

"I wasn't the enemy, and I'm thinking if I'm a white, middle-aged property-owning man, and I'm being treated this way, how are other people being treated?" Hirsch said.