Charges dropped in raid at the CAID - Employees not off the hook + footage from RNC in St. Paul

I have a fairly grand DIY STREET FAIR summary coming up...essentially, a summer wrap up and fall preview...

but in the meantime, since I and some of my friends were touched by the events of late May, at the CAID, I wanted to run a snippet....

From The Free Press, by DAVID ASHENFELTER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Loitering charges have been dismissed against 116 people who were ticketed and detained in a controversial raid by Detroit police in May at the Contemporary Art Institute of Detroit, the ACLU of Michigan said Monday.

The nonprofit organization said the City of Detroit agreed to the dismissal after the ACLU challenged a ticket against one of the patrons on the grounds that the city ordinance is vague and overly broad.

"The Detroit police went too far, and it is to the credit of the City of Detroit that they have agreed to drop the charges against these young people who did nothing illegal," Michigan ACLU Director Kary Moss said in a statement.

"For years, we have been alarmed by masked police officers in commando outfits and guns drawn needlessly storming peaceful gatherings in Detroit. We encourage the city to take the next step to fix this unconstitutional ordinance and put an end to this practice once and for all," Moss added.

Dennis Mazurek, Detroit's chief assistant corporation counsel, said city lawyers agreed to dismiss loitering tickets against the patrons, but the charges against a handful of art institute employees who served alcohol or were bouncers will stand........

read more at: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080923/NEWS06/809230303/1008/NEWS06

Also, keeping up with extreme, over-reactionary tactics by authorities...
check out what most media outlets are glossing over--from what happened at the RNC in St. Paul