Immigration march: Police practice for RNC?

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(From MPR's Tim Nelson)
RNC? Si se puede!
About 850 people marched up Cedar Street this afternoon to rally in support of immigrant and other rights.
We counted them. Really.
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It was a little tougher, though, to keep track of the people that were keeping track of the marchers: the local gendarmerie looked like they taking the opportunity to hone their civic order keeping skills, as long as there was a march to secure.
It looked like there were about eight St. Paul officers on bikes working the crowd, and a goodly many more in marked squads making themselves "10-8," as the saying goes, in case their services might be called for.
There was also a fairly significant, um, discrete presence along the route of what was a raucous but otherwise peaceable march route.
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These fellows, who said they were with the St. Paul Police Department, were running a camera out the window of this Ford Ranger, recording the May Day event for posterity.
A few of Bloomington's finest were parked in a Jeep behind nearby, availing themselves of the opportunity to get a firsthand preview of this summer's activities. There was even what looked like a rented Merit Chev van packed with St. Paul officers parked a down the street in what we can only assume was a low-profile reserve.
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St. Paul police have long been a pretty amenable presence around demonstrations, but this might just be the first tangible evidence of their preparations for the coming Republican National Convention.
