Yesterday in Iraq, four US soldiers were killed, bringing the American death told to 4,000. Also yesterday, at least 57 Iraqis were killed and 100 were wounded. Tens of thousands, perhaps more than a million Iraqis, have died as a direct consequence of the U.S. invasion and occupation. This is the reality of five years of occupation and war, where 158,000 U.S. troops occupy a country where they are not wanted, and fight a war that the vast majority of Americans oppose.

On September 1st, the Twin Cities will host the very politicians who created this war disaster, at the Republican National Convention. Conventioneers will fill their days congratulating themselves for continuing the war with no end, getting full funding from Congress year after year, and all of this against the will of the American people. We will not allow the RNC to meet without an answer.

The Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War plans to take 50,000 protesters from the State Capitol Building to the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul on Monday, September 1, 2008. We will be there to demand the U.S. get out of Iraq now, and call for money for human needs, not war. We will be there to say no to the anti-people agenda of the RNC, and demand peace abroad, as well as justice and equality here at home.

540 days ago, I filed our first application for a permit for an anti-war march on the RNC. For six months, those applications were ignored. Then, they were returned without response, saying we had applied too early. With the support of our legal team, our Coalition has gone to great lengths to satisfy all requirements of the permitting ordinance of St. Paul. We have met with City officials to clarify many issues along the way. None of this has resulted in the issuing of our permit for an anti-war march to the Xcel Center on September 1st.

No other organization has announced plans, or applied for permits, to march on the RNC that day. In meetings with our Coalition, as well as in statements issued to the press, St. Paul City officials have claimed to be bound by the timelines in the City ordinance, which would require them to issue – or deny – our application by now.

City officials are not keeping their promises or upholding City ordinances, and that is what brings us here today. The only thing standing between the Republicans, and a massive anti-war protest on September 1st, is the ill will of the City of St. Paul, namely Mayor Chris Coleman and Assistant Police Chief Matt Bostrom.

But it is not up to them. People in the Twin Cities are against this war, and we are connected to people across the country who are planning to come here and protest at the RNC. From LA to New York, and everywhere in between, more than one hundred organizations from across the U.S. have joined our Coalition. When Mayor Coleman invited the Convention here, he also invited the most-predictable consequence: Our protests. After more than a year and a half of planning, Mayor Coleman and Assistant Chief Bostrom claim that they are still not prepared to deal with anti-war demonstrators. We have waited long enough.

Our attorneys will tell you more about the legal basis of the complaint we are filing today. Following this press conference, we are issuing an Action Alert, asking that supporters from around the country call Mayor Coleman’s office and demand that he do the right thing now: Issue a march permit that will take 50,000 anti-war protesters to Xcel Center on September 1st.