RNC protest blotter.

Via the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

• Local police are using a combination of pepper spray, concussion grenades and tear gas on a group of breakaway protesters gathered on Kellogg Boulevard in downtown St. Paul. The group of about 150 protesters, many thought to be with the group "Funk the War," had been blocking traffic for much of the afternoon.

• The exit at Seventh Street off Interstate 94 was blocked by a group of about 10 protesters who chained themselves together with lockboxes. The protesters said they were part of the Pittsburgh branch of the Northeast Anarchist Network. "(The purpose) was to shut down the delegates from getting to the RNC," one said. The police have officially shut down the exit.

• There was a Minneapolis police car at Sixth and Wabasha with the windshield bashed in and tires slashed.

• "They've disrupted the lives of so many people, Iraqis, New Orleaners, they didn't help them. The least we could do is disrupt their day for a couple of hours," said Joe, who declined to give his last name.

• One protester was asked: "Why are you doing this?" -- "You're writing about it, aren't you?" he said.

• On Seventh Street near Main, eleven local citizens, clad in bright yellow bibs, assembled themselves with a goal of preventing violence by inserting themselves between cops and protesters. They were mostly middle-aged adults and they talked with authorities to let them know their purpose. They wore armbands that say: "I will not hurt you."

• The crowd was far short of the 50,000 that organizers had hoped to attract, but officers in riot gear were stationed along the route of the march to Xcel Energy Center. Police initially estimated the crowd at 10,000, but then revised it sharply downward an hour later.

• An anarchist group known as the RNC Welcoming Committee had worked for months on strategies to disrupt the convention. Despite preemptive police searches over the weekend that resulted in six arrests, the group issued a statement Monday saying it was "moving forward with a national call to crash the convention."

• At the rally, a 25-foot-long ice sculpture rose 3 feet in the air and spelled "Democracy." Some protesters flew kites, waved American and peace-sign flags and carried homemade anti-war signs.

• Alan Rybak, a real estate agent from Lakeville, Minn., stood along the protest route carrying a sign that read "Support Our Troops." "I'm here to support our troops and to tell (protesters) to get a job and go home," said Rybak, a Republican Party activist.