July 26, 2000
		More than 80 Animal Rights Protesters Arrested in Minneapolis There have been widespread accusations of police overreaction and brutality in the wake of protests by animal rights activists in Minneapolis on July 24. Several hundred protesters who were trying to make a case against an egregious form animal abuse and manipiulation known as Animal Genetics were met by hundreds of riot-equipped officers who sprayed massive amounts of teargas and pepper spray and shot beanbag grenades into the crowd before hauling scores of the activists away to jail. The activists were in town to protest a convention by the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG), a group of 600 scientists from 48 countries who are attempting ways to alter animal species by means of Biotechnology. Animal genetics is considered by many to be the most heinous and unethical branch of biotechnology. It involves splicing genes of one animal into another to develop traits such as rapid growth and unnatiral size, resistance to extremes of temperature, or even changes to the animal's flesh to alter its nutritional content. Beyond the obvious crimes of treating animals as commodities, causing pain and suffering through animal testing, and unintentionallly causing horrible side effects, there is the problem, particularly among salmon and other genetically modified fish, of mutant fish escaping confinement and crossbreeding with their wild counterparts, which could easily destroy the entire original species. These frightening scenarios and others brought hundreds of animal rights activists to the streets to draw attention to the bleak future these scientists are attempting to create. The police responded with an almost riduculous amount of security that included enclosing the Hyatt Regency hotel, site of the ISAG convention, with huge concrete barriers, and heavily restricting access to the Nicollet Mall, downtown Minneapolis' primary shopping area. According to reports, the protesters gathered in Peavey Park, near the hotel to stage a peaceful march. They were met by over 950 police, including hundreds in riot gear and on horseback who dogged the protesters every move, and making several attempts to corral the march into an area where everyone could be easily arrested. After several attempts to escape the police gauntlet were repelled with force, many of the protesters became agitated and tried to fight their way out. The police responded by shooting teargas, pepper spray and beanbag missiles into the tense crowd and then moving in with heavy clubs to beat and arrest the protesters, many of whom were still writhing from the teargas. In the end, more than 80 activists were arrested, an unknown number of whom were injured in the process. Two journalists were also thrown to the ground and beaten by police. One police officer was injured after being thrown from his horse. There are also reports that later in the evening, police and FBI agents raided the Sisters Camelot house, a local non-profit free food distribution operation that has been a gathering place for people who have been organizing to protest ISAG. The officers stormed the house under the pretense of a "drug raid", but eyewitness accounts suggest that all police questions centered around anti-ISAG activity. Police in full ski masks reportedly badly beat several occupants of the house and forced others to sit handcuffed on the floor, their faces covered with torn up banners covering their eyes, while officers ransacked the house, making off with computer hard drives and printed literature. They ultimately arrested eleven people, at least one of whom was taken away by ambulance. Other reports, widely touted by police and widely covered by the press, center around several canisters, alleged to contain a cyanide gas similar to teargas, that were left by activists in a local McDonald's restaurant and other locations. The police have been using these canisters to brand all the protesters as "terrorists" trying to overthrow the city. The ISAG conference, which wraps up today (July 26), was undisturbed by the outside events, and the scientists stated they would meet again in Minneapolis "in a heartbeat." When Prof. Akke J. van der Zijpp, the group's president, was asked about the possibility of dialogue with their critics, she didn't feel they could find any common ground with those in environmental and anti-biotech groups that stridently oppose their work. "A dialogue is based on respect for each other's opinions. [And while] a demonstration of this nature is making a point, it is not a dialogue." Perhaps the scientists and the police who guard them are quick to avoid the issue of conversation. But the protesters have succeeded in bringing the ugly and secretive business of animal genetics into public view, and hopefully the public dialogue is just beginning.