Northfield implements its emergency response plan, integrating middle school, high school, college, and community populations in a march involving elements of nonviolent direct action.
Northfield, MN, Thursday, March 20. In this small southern Minnesota city of 17,000, known for its motto "Cows, Colleges, and Contentment," 520 local citizens and students staged a vigorous emergency protest on Thursday as an immediate response to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. After a series of marches and die-ins, carried out without a permit, the demonstrators performed a nonviolent blockade of the main Cannon River bridge leading into the downtown area.
The event began at 11:30 a.m., with a walkout of 180 high school and middle school students, and 140 St. Olaf College students. Converging on the downtown via two feeder marches, the students were joined by 200 additional local residents and Carleton College students.
After a fifteen-minute vigil on Bridge Square, the demonstrators, following three giant puppets symbolizing grieving Iraqi civilians, marched through a winding downtown parade route. They paused briefly at three bridges, the local U.S. Post Office, the local National Guard armory, the Northfield News (the local bi-weekly newspaper), and a pedestrian bridge. At each location, participants held short teach-ins and call-and-response exchanges related to the effects of war upon Iraqi civilians. The entire crowd also performed die-in actions by falling to the wet pavement to illustrate the suffering of civilian victims of the war.
At one point, as the march moved onto the pedestrian bridge, teenage pro-war hecklers trying to block the parade route were separated and moved off to the side by event "peacekeepers," who had earlier in the morning been trained in nonviolent security techniques.
The final stop was the Fifth Street Bridge, located within sight of busy Highway 3. Marchers took occupation of the bridge, chanting, singing, and playing games as freezing rain began to fall. In a speech, a local resident pointed out the military connotation to the name "Cannon River," exhorting the U.S. administration to "stop the cannons" and encouraging the crowd to "build bridges for peace" across Middle America.
Two affinity groups, consisting of a total of twelve activists, were prepared to risk arrest by maintaining the blockade and refusing to disperse. Earlier in the week, the twelve had undergone training in civil disobedience tactics.
Although the bridge sits adjacent to the Northfield police station, and several squad cars and a paddy wagon stood by for the duration of the demonstration, police refrained from directly confronting the protestors. Instead, they opted to set up barricades at either end of the street, unwittingly colluding with the goal of the organizers--to disrupt business as usual in downtown Northfield in solidarity with Iraqis presently experiencing the disruption of invasion.
At 2:00 p.m., the goal originally set by organizers, demonstrators declared victory and marched back to Bridge Square. Later in the day, another group of local citizens set up tents on the Square, vowing to occupy it, in shifts, day and night while the bombing continued.
People for Peace and Goodwill (PPG), Northfield's local peace group, will be organizing a number of public events in the days to come, including daily vigils at noon and 5:00, a Saturday morning "Peddle Pushers for Peace" bicycling event, and another city-wide mobilization, if necessary, when St. Olaf and Carleton reconvene after their spring break. PPG meets at 7 p.m. every Thursday night at 313 1/2 Division Street in Northfield. For information, call (507) 645-9520.