ISE-logo-acorn-with-leaves

Biodev. 7 Media

Authors:

n/a

Published:

CNN.com, Monday, May 19, 2003 Posted: 10:50 AM EDT (1450 GMT); GM food protested at St. Louis forum ST. LOUIS, Missouri (AP) — A few hundred people opposed to genetically engineered food marched past police protecting the site of an agricultural forum Sunday, but no confrontations were reported. Demonstrators banged drums and chanted slogans as they walked past barricades and boarded up windows near the hotel where the World Agricultural Forum is being held. Scientists, agriculture experts, educators and farmers from 26 countries were expected at the forum’s 2003 World Congress. The protesters contend that genetically modified seeds and foods harm consumers and the environment. One chant was “Say No to Monsanto,” directed against the St. Louis-based biotechnology company. Regulatory agencies throughout the world have deemed Monsanto products safe, said spokesman Bryan Hurley. Demonstrators contend most of the forum’s participants support biotechnology, but forum organizers said the gathering is a neutral conference addressing agricultural issues such as hunger. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Biodevastation 7: Call it the counter-conference

By ALLYCE BESS St. Louis Post-Dispatch

updated: 05/16/2003 12:11 AM

Call it the counter-conference.

Today, activists and scientists will gather for Biodevastation 7, a three-day look at the worldwide state of agriculture. The event is scheduled to culminate Sunday in a protest at the World Agricultural Forum’s 2003 World Congress.

“We’re here (in St. Louis), because we feel that companies like Monsanto are trying to impose a model of agriculture on the world that’s a detriment to farmers, the environment and public health,” said Brian Tokar, director of the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont and a speaker at the Biodevastation conference.

Organizers say corporate agriculture – with representatives at the World Congress – will cause the very problems, such as hunger, that companies like St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. claim they can address.

They contend that the spread of genetically modified foods and other technologies also will erode the autonomy of farmers and, ultimately, consumers.

“This technology is being developed largely out of the public eye,” said Lisa Archer, a coordinator at the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, which is sending representatives to the conference. “It’s happening so quickly that we as a society haven’t had a chance to debate whether we even want genetically modified food.”

Countering “myths”

The Biodevastation conference is needed, organizers said, to counter “myths” that are put out by big agribusiness companies. Chief among them:

Genetically modified foods will increase crop yield. But the Center for Food Safety in Washington and others point to independent studies that show that genetically modified seeds decrease yield. Hunger is caused by lack of access to land where indigenous people can grow food, critics say.

Genetically modified foods are safe. Opponents say the long-term effects are unknown, so there should be a freeze on planting such crops and mandatory labeling for any products containing them.

Genetically modified technology will increase biodiversity. Opponents say accidental cross-pollination could alter the DNA of native species, threatening biodiversity.

Both sides of these issues have produced scientific studies to support their claims.

A farmer’s story

Biodevastation 7 participants also dispute companies’ claims that genetically modified crops will help farmers. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser, 72, will be there to tell of his legal battle with Monsanto, which requires farmers who buy its patented genetically modified seeds to sign an agreement not to plant seeds they harvest from such crops.

Schmeiser said in an interview that his crops were contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified canola seeds from other fields. Monsanto’s lawsuit contends he knowingly planted its patented seeds without paying for them.

Schmeiser said that patenting a life form is wrong and that farmers should be allowed to plant the seeds they harvest, instead of continually buying new seeds.

“If farmers lose the right to their own seeds, they’ll become serfs of the land,” Schmeiser said. “Monsanto will control the seed supply – and the food supply.”

Protests and questions about genetically modified organisms have been strongest in European countries. Now, Biodevastation 7 organizers said, they want to give voice to those concerns and viewpoints, which they believe are unlikely to be expressed at the 2003 World Congress in St. Louis.

When: 9 a.m.-10 p.m. today, 9:15 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 9:15 a.m.-2 p.m. Sunday, with a 2-5 p.m. protest at the World Agricultural Forum’s 2003 World Congress at Union Station.

Where: Mildred Bastian Theater, St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, 5600 Oakland Avenue.

Web site: www.gatewaygreens.org/biodev7/

Local organizers: The Gateway Green Alliance, a group affiliated with the Green Party USA

Why: To serve as a counterweight to the 2003 Congress, which organizers say disproportionately represents the interests of big agribusiness. Organizers will discuss the effects of genetic engineering and other biotechnologies on agriculture.

Who: The conference is open to the public. People can pay $60 for all three days or $25 a day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Biodevastation 7 farmers take aim at Monsanto

By ALLYCE BESS St. Louis Post-Dispatch

updated: 05/16/2003 11:43 PM

Photo: Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser holds up a document from Monsanto while speaking Friday at the Biodevastation 7 conference held at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park.(Karen Elshout/P-D)

Farmers from the United States, Canada and Ghana gathered Friday – the first day of Biodevastation 7, a conference held in St. Louis to protest the upcoming World Agricultural Forum’s congress – to discuss the future of small family farms amid the growth of corporate agriculture.

Two of the farmers, George Naylor of Greene County, Iowa, and president of the National Family Farm Association, and Percy Schmeiser, a canola grower in Canada, are involved in legal disputes with Monsanto Co. of Creve Coeur. Schmeiser, 72, has come to symbolize farmer opposition to genetic engineering.

Monsanto claims that Schmeiser knowingly replanted the company’s patented, genetically modified canola seeds that were found in his crops. Schmeiser, however, says he didn’t knowingly plant any of the seeds and claims Monsanto should be barred from patenting life forms or requiring farmers to sign agreements that prohibit them from planting the seeds they harvest.

While the lower courts have ruled in Monsanto’s favor, Canada’s highest court this month said it would hear Schmeiser’s appeal.

This time, Schmeiser thinks the outcome will be different. That’s because the Canadian Supreme Court, in a case involving a genetically engineered mouse that Harvard College patented in several countries, recently ruled that higher life forms cannot be patented in Canada. He said he hopes that decision will tip the scales in his favor – and cost Monsanto its Canadian patents.

A spokeswoman for Monsanto said she could not speculate on the outcome of the case, but defended the company’s position. “The bottom line is that so far he’s lost every court decision to this date,” said Shannon Troughton.

Of Schmeiser’s contention that Monsanto treats farmers unfairly, Troughton said: “There are thousands of growers who choose to use Monsanto’s technology in the United States and Canada. They’ve asked us to make sure that a minority of growers who attempt to use our technology illegally don’t have an unfair competitive advantage.”

Biodevastation 7, meeting at the St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, is sponsored locally by the Gateway Green Alliance, a group affiliated with the Green party. Organizers believe their views won’t be accurately represented at the World Agricultural Forum’s 2003 World Congress. That meeting will begin Sunday.

In an interview, Schmeiser, who said he has spent more than $270,000 in legal costs to battle Monsanto, said he’ll use “whatever good years he has left” to fight Monsanto. He contends that Monsanto’s nondisclosure and technology agreements violate farmers’ free speech and what he believes is a farmer’s right to reuse seeds.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Activists and scientists want to voice concerns about industrial agriculture and its pursuit of genetically modified organisms

By ALLYCE BESS St. Louis Post-Dispatch

updated: 05/16/2003 02:09 AM

Call it the counter-conference.

Today, activists and scientists will gather for Biodevastation 7, a three-day look at the worldwide state of agriculture. The event is scheduled to culminate Sunday in a protest at the World Agricultural Forum’s 2003 World Congress.

“We’re here (in St. Louis), because we feel that companies like Monsanto are trying to impose a model of agriculture on the world that’s a detriment to farmers, the environment and public health,” said Brian Tokar, director of the Institute for Social Ecology in Vermont and a speaker at the Biodevastation conference.

Organizers say corporate agriculture – with representatives at the World Congress – will cause the very problems, such as hunger, that companies like St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. claim they can address.

They contend that the spread of genetically modified foods and other technologies also will erode the autonomy of farmers and, ultimately, consumers.

“This technology is being developed largely out of the public eye,” said Lisa Archer, a coordinator at the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, which is sending representatives to the conference. “It’s happening so quickly that we as a society haven’t had a chance to debate whether we even want genetically modified food.”

Countering “myths”

The Biodevastation conference is needed, organizers said, to counter “myths” that are put out by big agribusiness companies. Chief among them:

Genetically modified foods will increase crop yield. But the Center for Food Safety in Washington and others point to independent studies that show that genetically modified seeds decrease yield. Hunger is caused by lack of access to land where indigenous people can grow food, critics say.

Genetically modified foods are safe. Opponents say the long-term effects are unknown, so there should be a freeze on planting such crops and mandatory labeling for any products containing them.

Genetically modified technology will increase biodiversity. Opponents say accidental cross-pollination could alter the DNA of native species, threatening biodiversity.

Both sides of these issues have produced scientific studies to support their claims.

A farmer’s story

Biodevastation 7 participants also dispute companies’ claims that genetically modified crops will help farmers. Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser, 72, will be there to tell of his legal battle with Monsanto, which requires farmers who buy its patented genetically modified seeds to sign an agreement not to plant seeds they harvest from such crops.

Schmeiser said in an interview that his crops were contaminated by Monsanto’s genetically modified canola seeds from other fields. Monsanto’s lawsuit contends he knowingly planted its patented seeds without paying for them.

Schmeiser said that patenting a life form is wrong and that farmers should be allowed to plant the seeds they harvest, instead of continually buying new seeds.

“If farmers lose the right to their own seeds, they’ll become serfs of the land,” Schmeiser said. “Monsanto will control the seed supply – and the food supply.”

Protests and questions about genetically modified organisms have been strongest in European countries. Now, Biodevastation 7 organizers said, they want to give voice to those concerns and viewpoints, which they believe are unlikely to be expressed at the 2003 World Congress in St. Louis.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Arrests and weapons allegations spark activists’ anger

By HEATHER RATCLIFFE

AND JEREMY KOHLER St. Louis Post-Dispatch

updated: 05/16/2003 11:42 PM

St. Louis police search a home Friday in the 3000 block of Cherokee Street. Police say the raid was to enforce housing laws, but activists who were staying there said it was to clamp down on protests at the World Agricultural Forum here this weekend.

(Dawn Majors/P-D)It was good fortune, St. Louis police said, when raids Friday to enforce housing laws yielded “weapons” like rocks and nails from homes of some people planning to protest the World Agricultural Forum here this weekend.

But the activists said it was just an excuse to get in and snoop.

More than a dozen people were arrested – none on weapons violations – and most remained in jail into Friday night.

“This is political repression. We’re being targeted,” said Molly Dupre, glassy-eyed as she emerged on bail from police headquarters after about seven hours in custody on a charge of occupying a condemned building.

DuPre, 23, of St. Charles, described herself as an anarchist and six weeks pregnant.

Joe Mokwa, chief of a police department clearly edgy about what the coming days will bring, told reporters, “We are very concerned. We can certainly draw conclusions and expectations after we found these items.”

Some of those things – a bag of rocks and a bucket of nails – seem fairly common to a home under rehabilitation, as some of those raided were. But they appeared more sinister when paired on a display table with a sling shot, whips and torches.

Similar devices were used as weapons in large-scale demonstrations at international conferences in Seattle and Washington, D.C., officials said.

These were seized from a condemned building at 3309 Illinois Avenue and a building at 3022 Cherokee Street. Mokwa said no weapons charges were filed because nothing could be linked to specific people.

Police said neighbors’ complaints spurred the raids; names of those complaining were not revealed. The building on Illinois had been condemned.

“The timing is coincidental because these people just got here,” Mokwa said. “We have an obligation to investigate complaints. We are not going to allow people to reside in abandoned buildings.”

Activists said police circled the buildings for days, questioning anyone on foot or bicycle.

“It’s definitely systematic harassment of protesters,” said Art Friedrich, who lives at 3022 Cherokee.

Fifteen people arrested at the home on Illinois were cited for a city ordinance violation of occupying a condemned building, Mokwa said. It had no occupancy permit, according to building inspectors.

Some of those staying there insisted it was not condemned. Three people, who bought it from the city for $800, have been staying there for a year, they said.

They opened the house, which they called “Bolozone,” to out-of-towners attending the Biodevastation 7 conference at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park.

Biodevastation 7 was scheduled as a counterstatement to the World Agricultural Forum, which begins Sunday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Union Station.

Dupre said she was in her upstairs bedroom at Bolozone when police arrived. She said one officer told her they had a warrant and another said they didn’t need one.

She said police told her there were orders to sweep the city for anyone who looks like an anarchist.

Dupre scoffed at any suggestion of violent people staying there. Most are puppeteers, she said.

“It’s a rehab site,” she said. “These are things that are going to be found in every garage across America.”

Mike Liebhart, who said his girlfriend was arrested, told a reporter. “I’m shaken. I feel like my constitutional rights are being taken away. Why are they raiding these houses? Why are they arresting people?”

Mokwa said police will accommodate peaceful anti-World Agricultural Forum protests in Aloe Plaza, across from Union Station.

“We are here to protect the rights of everybody,” Mokwa said. “We want people to be able to voice their opinions. People who go into a vacant condemned building have no rights to be there.”

The chief noted, “These people are not here attending seminars. They are sitting in vacant buildings in the middle of the day.”

The building on Cherokee houses the nonprofit Community Arts and Media Project, a collection of seven grassroots organizations including Gateway Green Alliance, which is sponsoring Biodevastation 7.

A housing inspector noticed suspicious items during his search, and police obtained a search warrant, Mokwa said. It was not clear what was seized from which address.

Friedrich, 23, pulled a copy of the warrant from his pocket. It said police were looking for barrel traps, Molotov cocktails, gas masks, PVC pipe, whips, chains, flammable liquids and nails with washers attached.

At one point, police emerged with two 8-foot wood dolls with papier-mache heads. One was a caricature of a police officer, the other of an alderman. Such dolls are common to protests, sometimes being used as a signal or diversion.

Police also removed mirrors, camping equipment, several bags of molding clay, a disassembled kiln, a length of metal pipe and two construction respirators.

Friedrich said police told him he could reclaim the items Wednesday, which is the day after the end of the World Agricultural Forum.

He said he expected to see police, but added, “We didn’t really expect them to flip out about this like they did.”

Brian Tokar, one of the organizers of Biodevastation 7, said police overreacted. “We’ve been doing these events for years,” he said. “Every year in the U.S. we’ve gotten these insane, inflammatory issues from the police. It’s to inflame public passion and to prevent public discussion of the dangers of agribusiness.”

Matt LeMieux, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, said, “I think if the police are going to conduct searches and arrest people, it ought to be based on the conduct of what a person is doing now. But what they’re doing is pre-emptively trying to arrest people. It’s a bad and unconstitutional policy.”

He called the housing inspections “a trick” to get in without a warrant and suggested police should have worked with protesters instead of antagonizing them.

J. Justin Meehan, a lawyer called by some of the jailed activists, complained that police would not release detainees’ names, charges or amounts of their bails.

He showed up at police headquarters at 6 p.m. with $500 to bail out as many as he could.

“Whatever violations there are have existed for some time,” he said. “This is a ruse to prevent people from their legitimate right of assembly. This is almost an ideal civil rights case where the police, acting under the color of law, violate rights guaranteed under the Constitution.”

Also Friday, officers stopped a van of activists and arrested the driver just after the group visited the Regional Chamber and Growth Association headquarters downtown.

Occupants of the van said police told them they violated the seat belt law. They said officers photographed each passenger then took in the driver, Sara Bantz. Her friends said she was charged with a drug violation for carrying a bottle of vitamins.

Mokwa said the woman was arrested on a warrant in Columbia, Mo.

Jim Getz and Todd Frankel of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Protesters arrive, see police – and demonstrate peacefully

By HEATHER RATCLIFFE AND JEREMY KOHLER St. Louis Post-Dispatch

updated: 05/18/2003 11:25 PM

What police feared could become a violent clash with protesters Sunday instead turned out to be a noisy yet peaceful protest as nearly 300 activists marched outside the World Agricultural Forum in downtown St. Louis.

A flurry of rumors and a round of arrests late last week raised tension between police and demonstrators opposed to scientifically altered food up until the moment they met on Market Street outside the Union Station.

But instead of the vandalism and violence that marked the World Trade Organization conference in Seattle in 1999, protesters here chanted, sang and banged drums, all the while demanding a public debate with agriculture executives meeting inside the hotel on the first day of the three-day conference.

Two police helicopters circled overhead. One hundred uniformed officers stood around the perimeter of Aloe Plaza, where protesters congregated; untold more police were off-site, but at the ready, in case of riots.

But none materialized.

St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa expressed gratitude that it remained largely peaceful.

There were no arrests by the time the protest broke up shortly after 5 p.m. More protests are expected today.

Shouting slogans like “No justice, no peas” – a takeoff of the standard protest cry of “No justice, no peace” – a group of sign-toting activists began marching from a rally at Centenary United Methodist Church at 16th and Olive streets to Market Street in front of Union Station about 3:30 p.m. They paused and fell silent when they reached a line of nearly 40 uniformed police and patrol cars blocking their path. Throughout the day, anxious activists worried what would happen at this moment.

“Keep the adrenaline going,” a marcher yelled through a bullhorn. “Do not relent,” yelled another.

The crowd pushed on, filtering into the plaza, where they were met by the news media and so-called “legal observers” toting cameras and notebooks to document the scene.

The plaza also teemed with spies. Police in plain clothes videotaped protesters, who, in turn, were videotaping police.

Activists took down license plate numbers on police cars. Police wrote down phone numbers written on the arms of protesters; they were phone numbers of attorneys the protesters could call.

Earlier in the day, about 150 activists gathered at Tower Grove Park, where they listened to an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union talk about their rights, and painted signs to carry to the plaza.

Protesters said a heavy hand by police stunted their plans for a more organized demonstration. Police on Friday seized the bicycles of a bike circus that was supposed to perform at the rally. Also, on Friday, officers and a housing inspector raided and seized materials from at least two homes in St. Louis where protesters were gathering.

Authorities said they received complaints from neighbors that out-of-towners were staying in vacant and condemned homes.

Fifteen people – all but two from out of state – were charged with occupying a condemned building. A police spokesman would not release their identities Sunday.

Organizers of a counterforum – called Biodevastation 7 – issued a statement branding local police tactics “an unprecedented level of harassment” that included “paramilitary-style raids” on activists’ homes and pre-emptive arrests.

Allyce Bess of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Protests are feared today at agriculture meeting

By Heather Ratcliffe and Todd C. Frankel St. Louis Post-Dispatch

updated: 05/18/2003 12:33 AM

Business owners in downtown St. Louis boarded up windows and posted copies of police notices Saturday as they braced for the possibility of clashes between protesters and police Sunday.

Workers at Blue Cross Blue Shield and a parking garage on Chestnut Street built barriers to protect their property as delegates began arriving for the World Agriculture Forum at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at Union Station.

The forum, which starts Sunday, is an international gathering of scientists, industry representatives and others who will discuss a wide range of topics related to feeding and clothing the world.

The upcoming convention and scheduled protest had no apparent effect on families and tour groups visiting Union Station on Saturday. The only police presence was notices taped to the mall’s entrances forbidding items such as banners, bottles and open flames.

City officials have offered the Aloe Plaza across from the hotel to activists who intend to protest at the conference. A rally and march are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Protesters will rally against the spread of genetically modified foods and other technologies that they contend erode the autonomy of farmers and, ultimately, consumers.

St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay said he hoped anyone visiting downtown for a baseball game, political rally or an industry conference would be on their best behavior.

“The vast majority of people who came to St. Louis to protest are peaceful and well-intentioned,” Slay said in a written statement Saturday. “But there is no doubt that there is a small cadre within the group that came to St. Louis with the intention of disrupting lives and damaging property.”

Arrests remain mysterious

On Friday, police arrested at least 15 people and seized materials they called weapons from several buildings where activists gathered this week. Police refused to release the names of those arrested. They could not confirm whether the activists had been released Saturday.

Police said they initiated their search Friday after neighbors complained about suspicious people in a condemned building and too many cars with out-of-state tags parked on the street. Housing inspectors and officers searched at least three properties. Officers say they found whips, torches, rocks and a slingshot.

Legal experts said Saturday that it wasn’t immediately clear whether police actions in raiding a house at 3309 Illinois Avenue were legal.

City property records show the building is owned by Daniel Paul Green and was purchased in October 1998. Green, 24, said he has been living in the building and making general repairs since he bought it.

Police are usually required to obtain a warrant to search a home. But a warrant is not necessary if the building is abandoned or if police have reason to think it is.

Law professor Richard Kuhns questioned why the police targeted that particular address.

“Even with the limited information that exists, there is a real appearance of a pretextual police operation to get at protesters,” said Kuhns, a professor of law at Washington University School of Law. “Whether that’s technically legal or not, it’s wrong.”

Some of the activists said the arrests and seizures the day before disrupted their ability to plan activities. They said they lost a day they had hoped to use to coordinate with people coming to town for the protests.

“Some of the events are not going to be able to be organized because we had to concentrate on getting people out of jail,” said Andrell Bower, 22, of Columbia, Mo.

Police took bicycles Friday from a group pedaling through Tower Grove Park. Police told the cyclists that anyone older than 12 needed a license to ride a bicycle in St. Louis, the cyclists said.

The group, which calls itself a bike circus, may not be able to perform as planned this weekend, activists said.

“There has certainly been a breakdown in trust between the community and police department,” said J. Justin Meehan, a lawyer representing several activists arrested Friday.

Activists at the Community Arts and Media Project building, 3022 Cherokee Street, said they never intended to act out violently at protests Sunday. They resented the portrayal that they were looking to use Molotov cocktails, nails and chains – all of which were items listed in a search warrant for their building. Police seized a bucket of nails from one building.

Art Friedrich, 23, who lives in the building, said being cast as a violent protester only makes him want more than ever to have a peaceful rally. He said he does not want to see any violence.

“I feel like then the police will be like, see, we were justified,” Friedrich said. “And if people are planning violent things, they are not involved in these groups.”

Friedrich wrote a letter to neighbors to explain the police action on Friday and apologized for the disturbance. He planned to hand-deliver it to homes nearby.

The Cherokee Street building, which serves as one base for protesters, is home to a collection of seven grass-roots groups including the Gateway Green Alliance, the sponsor of the Biodevastation 7 conference, which began Friday at the St. Louis Community College at Forest Park and ends Sunday.

Scientists and environmentalists gathered at the conference discussed concerns about the effects on farming of corporate-driven agricultural initiatives.

Acting out frustrations

On Saturday afternoon, about 30 people gathered in the back yard of the Cherokee Street house, a three-story building with blue window frames. They were mostly men and women in their early 20s, a ragtag group who would not look out of place on a college campus.

Amid laughs and jokes, they rehearsed an impromptu play based on Friday’s police crackdown. One woman read aloud media accounts of what took place while others parodied the action.

Protesters said the play’s humor was meant to vent some of their frustration.

Tom Hallaran, 23, who also lives in the Community Arts and Media Project building, said he was arrested Friday morning for driving with a suspended license. He said he had been rushing that morning to haul away items that he felt police might take with a search warrant, such as two of his computers. His car was seized, and he was in jail until 9 p.m., when his $300 bail was posted. He said he had been targeted as part of a crackdown on protesters.

“I felt very violated,” Hallaran said. “It was a well-organized operation to shut down where organizers lived on the South Side.”

Mayor supports police

Slay said he supported police in their efforts to prepare for the weekend.

The police have blocked off the entrance to Clark Avenue at Tucker Boulevard with concrete barricades, creating headaches for some drivers trying to access the on-ramp for Highway 40.

“The police are in a no-win situation,” Slay said. “If they under-react – like in Seattle where the chief was roundly criticized and ultimately lost his job – they lose. If they overreact, they lose.”

St. Louis Police Chief Joseph Mokwa has studied the way other cities reacted to violent protesters and tried to learn from their experiences, Slay said.

Meehan, the lawyer, said he and others from the American Civil Liberties Union expected to be on hand to observe the activities downtown Sunday.

The activists “have a strong commitment to a peaceful, nonviolent demonstration,” Meehan said. “But I don’t know how these police sweeps will affect that.”

Deborah L. Shelton of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.