There has been a lot of main stream coverage of the Democratic and Republican conversion. Kucinich’s “Wake Up American” speech and Palin denying accepting funds for “The Bridge to Nowhere” seem to take the top of the newsreel, with asides to the hurricane season upon us. However the real story of the protesters has been all but non-existent in the main stream media. At both the DNC and RNC, major protests have taken, and are currently taking place.

At the Democratic National Convention, protesters were restricted to free speech zones. Police kept protesters away from the convention center, many were pepper sprayed and injured:

Rage Against the Machine played a free concert on Wednesday of the DNC. A march was arranged by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). Police were slightly more reluctant to stop soldiers who have fought for their country. Still, they were denied their request to read a message before the convention: a open letter from the IVAW to Obama directly asking him about his policy on the War in Iraq.

Prior to the RNC, Police in Minneapolis decided to take preemptive action by obtaining warrants and conducting several raids on known anti-war and peace protest groups.

To their credit, the police did allow the protesters to actually protest in front of the convention center for the RNC. Many screamed at delegates as they walked in, and many also took things too far by throwing eggs at delegates, busting windows, spreading tacks on the streets and causing wide spread panic. The police responded in force. Things got very out of hand very quickly.

On the first day of the convention, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! was arrested. She was released the next day.

Besides a few clips and snippets, the main stream media is not really covering any of this.