Protests at GOP gathering result in 284 arrests

ST. PAUL -- Sporadic violence broke out as thousands of protesters marched on the Republican National Convention on Monday, chanting for an end to the war in Iraq and demanding Republicans be denied the White House in November's election.

Members of the Connecticut delegation were roughed up in one incident. Mary Jerde, a spokeswoman for the St. Paul Joint Information Center, said 284 arrests had been made by late Monday.

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan helped lead the march, which started at the state Capitol building and weaved its way to within a block of the Xcel Energy Center, the site of the Republican National Convention.

Roving groups dressed in black and wearing masks smashed windows of stores and police cruisers, shut down intersections and lit small fires in downtown St. Paul. Officers clad in riot gear responded with pepper spray.

About 30 members of the Connecticut delegation were attacked when they got off their charter bus near the convention site, said state party Chairman Christopher Healy. About 100 protesters approached the delegates "shouting anti-war rhetoric" before starting to shove, spit and throw liquid on the group, he said. Healy said tests confirmed that about 15 of the delegates had been splashed with bleach.

Fred Biebel, an 83-year-old member of the delegation and former state party chairman, was treated for shortness of breath, Healy said.

Dwayne Baird, a spokesman for the police agencies patrolling the route, said the crowd was no more than 8,000. Mick Kelly, a spokesman for the Coalition to March on the RNC, said the crowd was closer to 30,000.

By midafternoon, St. Paul police asked for 150 members of the Minnesota National Guard to help with "crowd control," said a Guard spokeswoman, Capt. Anna Long. Minneapolis and state police also assisted.

The arrests Monday follow raids by Ramsey County sheriff's deputies and FBI agents over the weekend. Six members of a group calling themselves the "RNC Welcoming Committee" were arrested. Axes, sledgehammers, throwing knives and buckets of urine were confiscated.