RNC protest route announced
St. Paul police have outlined a route for protesters who want to march during the Republican National Convention.
The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War has been frustrated at having to wait months for a protest route. The group recently went to court to push the police department to announce the protest route sooner.
Assistant St. Paul Police Chief Matt Bostrom Wednesday told reporters the city supports the protesters right to protest.
He said that's why police have outlined a route that will allow protesters to get within 300 feet of the Xcel Energy Center.
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"We are very close, but the point is this something that we can accommodate, and the answer is we will accommodate it. You're asking my personal opinion, and I'm paid to be a person who takes extra precautions, but at this point there is no indication that this is going to become a disruptive event," Bostrom said.
Protest organizers said the route doesn't let marchers get close enough to the Xcel Center.
Meredith Aby from The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War said protest participants want to be closer to the convention, where they can be seen by the delegates.
"We wanted access to one side of the Xcel Center," said Aby. "And we don't feel like this march route really gives us that, and we don't feel like the city and their documents that they gave us today has properly expressed why they couldnt give us the march route that we applied for."
Aby said the city is also not allowing enough time to accommodate the number of protesters they are expecting for the march.
