Democracy Now! radio program host Amy Goodman and two of her producers were arrested at the scene of Monday’s opening protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in St. Paul, Minnesota.

A celebrated journalist, Goodman told the Washington Post that she was “down on the convention floor interviewing delegates when I heard that two of our producers had been arrested. I ran down to Jackson and 7th Street, where the police had moved in.”

Goodman got “seriously manhandled” and handcuffed when cops didn’t believe or care that she is a member of the press. She was charged with a misdemeanor and released. Her producers, Shariff Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, were allegedly roughed up and are still in jail at this writing on the ridiculous charge of rioting.

The clip of Goodman’s arrest can be seen on YouTube. At a press conference later that day, police officials hemmed and hawed in response to a reporter’s question about whether journalists have been arrested. Note to cops: Go to Youtube.

Police in St. Paul have been treating free speech as if it were a terrorist group. Prior to the start of the RNC, six raids were conducted on activist households and groups that planned actions at the convention. Six persons were arrested. They are supposedly members of an anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee. The National Lawyers Guild is helping to defend them.

Another Democracy Now! producer, Elizabeth Press, was among those handcuffed and detained for hours during what officials are calling “pre-emptive” raids. Police seized three laptops, rifled through personal belongings and even took literature protesters had produced for distribution during the marches. Pre-emptive and free speech don’t seem to belong in the same Constitution.

The raids didn’t deter protesters. An estimated 8,000-30,000 demonstrators (depending on whether you believe the police or organizer estimate) marched peacefully through the streets of the city on Labor Day to make known their objections to the war in Iraq and other misguided policies of the George Bush Administration.

The march was led by a contingent of veterans of America’s two illegal wars.

A small group of anarchists smashed windows and even reportedly attacked delegates going into the Excel Energy Center for Monday’s scaled-down (because of Hurricane Gustav, which is devastating the Gulf coast) opening day activities. According to the Star Tribune, at least 280 people were arrested in those incidents. Wonder how many were journalists and non-window smashing demonstrators?

For those of us who lived through the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, the police tactics at this year’s RNC seem like deja vu.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a radical southern Italian atheist queer with a website: www.avicollimecca.com