Police arrest 130 protesters on the first day of the Republican National
Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 1, 2008) REUTERS
 Police in riot gear used pepper spray and smoke bombs on a few
hundred violent protesters on Monday (September 1).
    According to police, 130 people were arrested outside the arena where
the Republican party opened its presidential convention. 
   Officers on horseback, motorcycles and bicycles chased down a group of
rock and bottle-throwing protesters that had broken off from a larger, largely
peaceful march of as many as 10,000 people.
   The smaller group smashed police car windows and a Macy's storefront,
and a few threw glass bottles at police.
   A Reuters reporter saw police handcuffing some of the protesters in a
parking lot not far from the convention. 
   The demonstrators had marched earlier in the day from the Minnesota
state capitol to the heavily barricaded Xcel Center, where John McCain will
accept the Republican presidential nomination later this week. 
    They chanted anti-war slogans and waved signs criticizing President
George W. Bush. 
    Public safety officials put the crowd at 8,000 to 10,000 and reported
seven arrests.
    Coast Guard officers and police clad in riot gear arrested a group of
protesters marching next to the Mississippi river. 
   The Republicans scaled back their convention festivities on the first
day, mindful that they risked a political backlash if they were shown
celebrating as Hurricane Gustav pounded the Louisiana coast.