Now I can say been there, done that. I’ve seen riots up close and personal, and I have no wish to repeat that experience.

Ah, but let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

A friend and I decided we’d March on the RNC. So far, so good. I was decked out in my FUNdamentalist tshirt and neon green scarf, while my friend chose a more conservative red, black and white hijab ensamble.

Because we were some of the very few hijabis there, we got a lot of notice. Quite a few people snapped our pictures and complimented our signs. We also got a number of garbled assalamu alaikums. I’ve finally found my people and they love me :)

We rallied at the State Capital first. It was nice and calm. We wandered around, snapping pictures and thinking, wow, this is really nice and calm. Yeah, or so we thought…

Around 1, people began to assemble on the streets to March to the Xcel Energy Center. Ah, they’re starting on time, how nice? Oh, what do the Middle East and the Peace Movement have in common? They’re both late for everything! After milling around on the street for 20 minutes, we finally got moving.

Alas, the route the city gave us kept us far from any actual RNC delegates or peeps. Seriously, I probably saw a dozen people in suits who looked republican-ish the entire time.

Can you see the republicans? Where you say? Oh, no, this is as close as we got. They hurded us through a steel cage when we got close to the Xcel.

There was, however, quite a bit of media. Yes, dear readers, this life long NPR fan was interviewed by NPR. When the guy came up and introduced himself as being from public radio, I seriously did a fan girl squeal. OMG NPR!!!##!@! I did manage to compose myself. inshaAllah I sounded intelligent enough to make it on the radio.

So we marched…and marched…and marched…Yeah, there was a lot of marching. We tried to break out early to catch our bus, since we didn’t want to march all the way back up to the capital, only to have to hike back down to catch the bus. Apparently though, the right to walk on the streets of my very own city were suspended. See, protesters can only walk on the route. No deviations. I even offered to chuck my sign, since it was 90 degrees and we were getting faint. No sympathy. Dur.

So we marched on up, finally found a road not guarded by cops, and hiked back downtown to pick up the bus. Yeah. No bus. I called Metro Transit, who said that bus service had been suspended because of rioting. Rioting? Uh oh…

So we try to hike up to another bus stop, hoping the buses will be there. Oh, what’s all that noise? Those gun shots? That gas? The riots! Run!!!

We tried to get out of dodge. Unfortunately, we were heading east towards my apartment, and the rioters were heading east. Scary stuff yo. We eventually did catch a bus, after hiking 2 miles out of downtown. Dur.

These are the pictures I managed to get of the riots. Granted, I was trying to run away, so I didn’t get anything very good.

Luckily, some reporters risked their hides to get some for you all.

minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/09/01/rnc_day1/

A protester is arrested by police in St. Paul, Minn., on the first day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Monday, Sept. 1, 2008.(AP Photo/Amy Forliti)

St. Paul police officers get surrounded by a group of protesters using a sign during an anti-war protest at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Monday, Sept. 1, 2008.

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Apparently they had to call out the National Guard to quell the rioters.  More coverage and pictures from the Strib.

So now all of Saint Paul is mad at the “protesters” for doing dumb stuff like smashing up our city. Dur.

inshaAllah I’ll write more. Right now I’m sun addled. Going to take a nice, long, cold bath.