At the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, eight young protesters were arrested on the charges of terrorism. Two of the protesters, Max Specktor and Garret Fitzgerald will be speaking about their experiences thanks to the Skidmore Democrats and United Students Against Sweatshops. The talk begin at 8pm Wednesday night in Gannett.

The RNC 8 are eight activists with the RNC Welcoming Committee arrested and charged under Minnesota terrorism law with “Conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism.”

On August 30, 2008, two days before the Republican National Convention was held, the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department raided three homes and arrested five activists, Monica Bicking, Garrett Fitzgerald, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, and Eryn Trimmer. Later that day, Luce Guillen-Givins was arrested leaving a public meeting at a park. The remaining two activists, Rob Czernik and Max Specktor, were arrested on September 1, the first day of the protests surrounding the RNC convention.

The eight activists face charges of conspiracy to riot in the second degree in furtherance of terrorism, a felony under Minnesota law, and with the 50% terrorism enhancement face a maximum sentence of 7 1/2 years in prison if convicted.

Police allege the eight planned to kidnap RNC delegates, assault officers and raid the Xcel Energy Center[1] but in the course of their searches uncovered no evidence to support such claims. <Wikipedia.com>

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RNC8.org