During a monthly ride sponsored by Critical Mass in Minneapolis on August 31, Minneapolis police arrested 19 people on initial charges of rioting. Guild attorneys Jordan Kushner, Peter Nikitas, and Bruce Nestor, along with Michelle Gross of the the Coalition Against Police Brutality and attorney Joe Vacek, met with the arrestees at the Hennepin County Jail on Saturday, September 1, in an attempt to have persons released prior to appearing in Court after the long holiday weekend. Although the presiding Hennepin County judge refused to meet with defense counsel, all arrestees were ultimately released on bond that weekend.

The Critical Mass arrests by Minneapolis police may have been a dry run for how law enforcement can be expected to behave during the Republican National Convention. Each month, Critical Mass bike riders have held a ride in Minneapolis without significant problems with the police. For the August 31 ride, however, the usual Critical Mass ride was joined by a number of activists from a meeting of the Pre-RNC Welcoming Committee. In response, the Minneapolis Police Department arranged for the first time to have the Minnesota State Patrol monitor the ride by helicopter. In addition, undercover officers from the Minneapolis Police Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) were deployed. The result was a police riot, with police driving their vehicles into the mass of bicycle riders, widespread use of chemical weapons (mace), and the arrests for “rioting.” The City Attorney determined that only five people could be formally charged with a variety of misdemeanor offenses and none were formally charged with rioting. Each defendant has now been offered a plea agreement to a misdemeanor, without jail time, in return for agreeing to a condition of probation that they stay away from the City of Minneapolis for twelve months – conveniently until after the 2008 RNC. One juvenile defendant has had his case dismissed. Many of the others are set for trial in February of 2008, still represented by Guild attorneys Jordan Kushner, Peter Nikitas, Carla Magnuson and Bruce Nestor, after a hearing on January 24, 2008, on discovery motions filed by the Defendants.

Initial reports indicate that the arrests essentially resulted from a police riot. After the police were unsuccessful in making an initial arrest, officers descended in force on the crowd of approximately 400 riders. Most of the persons arrested appeared to have been picked out of the crowd at random as they were trying to leave the scene. Police liberally applied pepper spray to the entire crowd and also pepper sprayed people at close range after they had been arrested and were lying prone on the ground. At least one pedestrian bystand was arrested as he was trying to take photographs of the incident. Police smashed his camera. Police were also observed reviewing photographs taken by other persons on cameras and cell phones.