Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

Police surrounded a duplex at 951 and 949 Iglehart Ave. shortly after 1 p.m. Two women who left the house were handcuffed while officers waited nearly two hours for a search warrant to arrive. The other occupants remained in the house until it was searched, when they were taken to the back yard in handcuffs.

The search was connected to the convention, said St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh. Without elaborating, he said the home was being searched for "probable cause to believe there was illegal activity there."

There were at least 10 people in the home and most were out-of-town visitors who identified themselves as journalists. Some in the home are here to document police activities and possible police improprieties during the convention, said Eileen Clancy, a co-founder of I-Witness Video, a New York-based media group.

The search ended when police found nothing of interest.

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

Communities United Against Police Brutality president Michelle Gross said she was video taping the sheriff's office raid in St. Paul on Saturday [should be Friday?] night when deputies shut off her camera.

"This action prevented her from documenting the incident in its entirety," the press release said. "Despite their actions, Ms. Gross was able to capture about 7 1/2 minutes of video and audio of the beginning of the raid, including use by deputies of a battering ram to force open the door to a upstairs theater where families were watching a film.

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

[Michelle] Gross [president of Communities United Against Police Brutality] said sheriff's deputies ordered her and others to the ground during the search on Friday and most of the video she filmed was from the floor. She said the footage is "not all in a beautiful position because I was on my face, but was able to capture some of the essence of what was going on there."

After about seven and a half minutes, Gross said deputies turned the video camera off, despite her protests that she had a right to record what was happening.

"We document these incidents and then to have them pick up and then turn off the video camera ... is grotesque," Gross said today. "More than that, though, this was only the latest in a salvo of several incidents involving police attempting to block people from telling the story of what they're
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doing."

Originally Posted by City Pages

When the warrant finally arrived, officers burst through the door of the adjacent duplex where some of the I-Witness members had been staying and handcuffed three people inside. Officers went on to sift through boxes, search cabinets, and peruse computer files.

"Only they didn't seem to be looking for anything," says 34-year-old Daniel Haynes, an out-of-work social studies teacher. "They weren't thorough at all. It was almost like it was just for show."

Officers led Haynes, his roommate Julian Grant, and owner Mike Whalen—all in plastic handcuffs—to the backyard, where they would sit for 45 minutes. Back inside, officers kicked open an upstairs door to the adjoining section of the duplex and rushed down the stairs, guns drawn. Six activist journalists were similarly detained and led outside while authorities sorted through their possessions.

By this time, numerous media outlets had arrived. When Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman attempted to climb the rusty, four-foot-tall chain-link fence in the backyard in order to question the policemen, she was met with a wave of officers. A minor fracas ensued, with several voices shouting for the officers to unhand Goodman. Perhaps wary of the many television cameras in attendance, the authorities relented.

"That's when the entire tone changed," says Eidson. "Almost right after that, they let us go and told us to go back inside. Then they took off. They didn't take any of our stuff with them."

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

While police displayed alleged instruments of mayhem in front of television cameras after other raids in Minneapolis and St. Paul, no one was arrested and no property was confiscated from Whalen's property.

And the raid didn't appear to involve the Ramsey County sheriff's office, which led many of the pre-RNC raids. Some at the residence say an FBI agent and a Wisconsin sheriff's deputy visited the property earlier in the day, before St. Paul police showed up with a warrant.

No one has been charged in connection with the search, and an affidavit supporting the warrant has not been made public. A lawyer for Whalen said he hasn't been able to find it and is pledging a lawsuit.

...

Some believe the target to be New York-based I-Witness Video, a group Whalen was allowing to stay at the duplex during the RNC.

That group, led by Eileen Clancy, helped exonerate 400 people charged in connection with protest activity at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York.

...

Adding to suspicions that Clancy's group was being targeted is a Sept. 3 near-raid on offices I-Witness Video was using on Selby Avenue. Police say they rushed to the address based on a call that someone was being held hostage there. It turned out to be bogus.

"Based on (the fact) that our house was raided and our office was raided, it would appear that way," Clancy said when asked whether she thought police were targeting her group because of its work. "We were not organizing demonstrations. ... It's mysterious to me, that's for sure."

Whalen said I-Witness was staying at his property because a roommate has connections to members of the group. He now believes they were the target.

"They weren't coming into my home to look for bombs and guns. They were going after I-Witness, I think," Whalen said.

...

Furthermore, the search warrant lists one address — Whalen's, at 951 Iglehart Ave. I-Witness was staying in the neighboring unit, 949 Iglehart Ave.

That didn't stop police from entering 949 Iglehart through an attic and a locked door, according to numerous witnesses. Video posted on YouTube plainly shows those staying at the unit pointing out the error to police.

Whalen said he was told he would receive an addendum for the 949 Iglehart search. He said this week he still hasn't received it.

When Dooley, Whalen's lawyer, was asked who he thought the true target of the search was — Whalen, his roommates or his I-Witness Video guests — he said it was none of the above.

"I think it was freedom of the press, and that's not cute," Dooley said.

Originally Posted by Star Tribune

Search warrant affidavits made public Monday imply that longtime St. Paul activist Mike Whalen supported international terrorism, had boxes of weapons delivered to his home, advocated violence during the Republican National Convention and fled police in a rented Chevy.

Originally Posted by Star Tribune

The affidavits also noted that 21 packages were delivered to Whalen's home Aug. 30 and that an FBI agent learned "from a reliable source that the packages contained weapons that were intended to be used during the RNC."

Originally Posted by Star Tribune

The documents said police learned that Whalen, 60, "was previously under investigation during the 1990s due to a suspicion that he was supporting international terrorism."

Originally Posted by Star Tribune

The affidavits said Whalen owns the Arise bookstore at 2441 Lyndale Av. S. in Minneapolis and there are "postings in plain view" in the store and on the website "that are clear calls for action for unlawful activities including violence to law enforcement and destruction of property."

Originally Posted by Nick Coleman

Thankfully, this suspected vegan witch, Whalen, was brought to heel by the St. Paul Police Department on the day before the Republican National Convention opened in St. Paul, when the cops surrounded his home and served a search warrant. In the application for the warrant, which was finally made public Monday, a month later, the shocking news was revealed that Whalen had received 21 packages from California that were so heavy that the mailman could only carry two at a time, which is one more than my mail man can carry.

...

There were no weapons.

...

Vegan pamphlets, from some thing called "Vegan Outreach," 32 pages each, with cloyingly cute photos of a little baby chick and a little pink piggy on the cover, emblazoned with the words: "Guide to Cruelty-Free Eating."

...

We need to stay vigilant against these vegans. In the end, the police didn't charge Whalen with anything, probably because receiving vegan propaganda is not yet against the law. It should be.

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

Under Minnesota law, a search warrant must be executed and filed within 10 days after it's issued. These did not appear at the court in the required 10 days.

Officials at the criminal clerk's office had not seen the warrants, they said. They did not show up in the clerk's logbook, where the warrants are listed by number, date and address.

The 10 days came and went.

Ramsey County District Judge Joanne Smith, who signed the warrants Aug. 30, did not recall them specifically.

People began assuming the warrants had been sealed, which would have required action by the Ramsey County attorney's office.

But last week, officials there said they had not touched them.

Finally, late last week, prosecutor Heidi Westby found the warrants and supporting affidavits in her mailbox, even though she had no connection to the case.

...St. Paul police spokesman Tom Walsh said he did not know what police did with those particular warrants. But the normal protocol, he said, would be for an officer to take it to the clerk's office for filing, then to a judge to get it signed.

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

As to the affidavit itself, it includes allegations that:

• Whalen supported international terrorism in the 1990s.
• He is the co-owner of Arise Bookstore in Minneapolis, which has on its Web site a statement of purpose that includes the phrase, "Self-determination is a fundamental right to be obtained through whatever means necessary, including armed struggle."
• Kathleen Soliah, later known as Sara Jane Olson, who was involved in a Symbionese Liberation Army bank robbery that left a woman dead in Sacramento, Calif., in 1975, co-owned the bookstore with him.
• "Packages containing weapons that are intended to be used during the RNC" were being delivered to his home.

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

Michael Whalen, 60, claims police came to his property at 949/951 Iglehart Ave. on Aug. 30 and surrounded its occupants, weapons drawn.

Officers initially had no search warrant and were denied entry, said Ted Dooley, Whalen's attorney. Police returned a couple of hours later, warrant in hand, and shackled Whalen and others in the back yard.

Among things they were looking for, according to the search warrant affidavit, were explosives delivered in heavy boxes.

The boxes turned out to be full of vegan literature.

Originally Posted by Star Tribune

An attorney for St. Paul activist Mike Whalen, whose duplex was raided by police two days before the Republican National Convention, served notice on Mayor Chris Coleman and the city Friday that they intend to file a federal lawsuit.

Attorney Ted Dooley said at a news conference Friday that the suit will ask for damages of $250,000. He said claims made in the police search warrant affidavits were "absolutely preposterous."

About two dozen heavily armed police officers surrounded the side-by-side duplex at 949-951 Iglehart Av. the afternoon of Aug. 30 while waiting for a search warrant to be signed and delivered. Anyone who stepped outside was detained, and no one was allowed to enter.

When the warrant arrived, Whalen and his housemates and house guests -- members of I-Witness Video -- were handcuffed and led to the back yard while the duplex was searched. No one was arrested, and nothing was seized by police.