I've heard conflicting stories on this one, but there seems to be consensus that the police REALLY overreacted. I don't particularly doubt their side of it, with someone harassing the officers, but macing and tasering people, including passersby, is ridiculous.

Of course, if this hadn't happened, I wouldn't have even been aware of Critical Mass, since I wasn't in the area. It's hard to imagine it being entirely unprovoked, considering the Minneapolis Park Board shut down all the parkways yesterday for bike use (without, sadly, posting any signs ahead of time, so I found out the hard way by not being able to get onto my primary route out of my neighborhood). Bike lanes are all over downtown, and particularly the area this happened, so it's a pretty bike-friendly city.