Cops Nab 100 as RNC Protest Turns Violent

Police arrested more than 100 demonstrators outside the scaled-down Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., today, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. A crowd of 10,000 marched peacefully through 90-degree heat until bands broke off to smash windows and harass delegates. Police tossed tear gas and concussion grenades as they moved in, reports the AP and St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Inside the convention, RNC chair Michael Duncan urged delegates to donate to the Red Cross to aid victims of Hurricane Gustav. Laura Bush and Cindy McCain picked up the theme an hour later as charity names played on a screen behind them, the AP reports. "This is a time when we take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats," McCain said. (More Republican National Convention stories.)