Second suit filed against St. Paul involving GOP convention protests

A group planning a poor people's march at the Republican National Convention filed suit in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, alleging that St. Paul police failed to grant a permit for the demonstration.

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign wants to march from Mears Park to the Xcel Energy Center on Sept. 2.

This is the second federal suit concerning convention protests. An antiwar group planning a march on Labor Day, Sept. 1, has also sued the city of St. Paul, seeking a different route and time than the one police gave them.

Cheri Honkala, national organizer for the poor people's campaign, said police issued her group a permit for Mears Park, but not for the march.

Tom Walsh, a St. Paul police spokesman, cited problems with the march application. He said Sept. 2 is a business day, and police must accommodate protesters and traffic. He said the application has the march going from University Avenue to Cedar Street, but Cedar passes over University and there's no pedestrian access between the two. "People are looking at the application and there are questions that need to be ironed out," he said.

Honkala challenged the police view, saying the route could work and if police saw a problem with it, they could have called her group's lawyers or her. Jordan Kushner, one of the group's attorneys, said police hadn't met ordinance and guideline deadlines and were stonewalling protesters.

RANDY FURST