The Uptake | Obama Supporters Turn The Other Cheek

Posted on August 30, 2011 by The Uptake

Most of the people in the crowd had been Obama voters in the 2008 election and they had gathered many times to support his campaign. This time it was a mixture of sadness and outright anger about recent actions of the Obama administration including the expansion of wars, ignoring Bush-Cheney era war criminals, environmental losses and now seeming to balance the budget with cuts to Social Security and Medicare.

The morning serenity created by thousands of Minnesota Somali residents gathering to celebrate the end of Ramadan was soon broken with chants and shouting.

Groups represented at the protest

MN350.org is part of an international effort to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million to ensure global population viability. (It’s currently 392.)
Many veteran’s groups joined in protesting the current wars including: Veterans for Peace.
Iraq Veterans Against The War.
Military Families Speak Out.
Adding their voices were The Committee to Stop FBI Repression,
Women Against Military Madness plus a number of other groups.

The protestors walked to the rear of the convention center where the Presidential motorcade was to depart. At first they were allowed to gather across 12th Street from the exit, then as departure time approached mounted police moved the crowd further west so they could not be visible from the departing vehicles.