SAINT PAUL, Minnesota - September 1, 2008 - The Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild is seeking a judicial review into six activists arrested during a police raid on a group organizing protests against the Republican National Convention, The Minnesota Independent reported Sunday.

A representative of the National Lawyers Guild said the police officers are simply trying to prevent the activists from their right to protest as no charges or official complaints have been filed.

“If they have evidence of a criminal act, then they should charge them,” he says. “And if they can charge [my client, Monica Bicking] with a complaint, then we will go defend that in court. But right now they are just holding them. You can’t just hold [Bicking] to prevent her from exercising her free speech.”

The activists were arrested when the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department stormed a rented meeting place of the RNC Welcoming Committee, a self-described “anarchist/anti-authoritarian” group, in St. Paul, Minnesota Friday night, CNN reported.

As many as 30 police officers entered the building with guns drawn, temporarily detaining and photographing at least 50 people.

St. Paul Police spokesman Tom Walsh said the men acted under a search warrant, but said “the cause for the search warrant is not public at this time.”

Although no one in the building has been charged with anything, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher issued a press release that called those in the building “criminal anarchists” and listed materials for bombs and hazardous materials police found in the building, including “assorted edged weapons”, “wrist rockets”, “large amounts of urine”, and many others.

A statement from the group maintains that the meeting place “is not used for illegal actions” and that members were “watching films and sharing food” when police raided the building.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman defended the actions of the county sheriff’s department as necessary to keep other protesters of the Republican National Convention safe.

“We are making sure that people here to legitimately protest have the right to do that, but people engaging in criminal activity are not going to be able to do that,” Coleman said.