200 Demonstrators And Some Working Journalists Arrested Near GOP Convention

St. Paul, MN (AHN) - Demonstrations near the Republican National Convention Thursday night ended with police lobbing tear gas and percussion grenades into the crowd and arresting an estimated 200 anti-war protesters.

Anti-war demonstrators were trying to cross the Marion Street bridge leading to the Xcel Energy Center convention site. Police clad in riot gear were intent on containing the demonstrators and had ordered them not to try to head to the GOP convention site.

When police blocked off downtown with snow plows, dump trucks and horses, the demonstrators began a rolling series of sit-down protests.

More than 200 protesters were arrested on the Marion Street bridge, mostly on charges of unlawful assembly. Protesters reportedly were upset because the city-issued permit to march on Thursday expired at 5 p.m., long before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona began to speak.

When protesters attempted to continue their march the police began arresting demonstrators as the evening wore on.

Another two Associated Press reporters were arrested while covering events Thursday night, an AP photographer and three other journalists had been arrested while working on Monday night. All were reportedly well identified as working members of the press wearing their press credentials.

Along with the AP photographer, a KARE-11 TV photographer and more than a dozen other journalists were arrested Thursday night, with all of them being released later in the evening, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports.