St. Paul police announced today that protesters that plan to march outside the Republican National Convention will have to do so within a restricted area, or what is known as the controversial, "free speech zone." The police will begin accepting applications to protest on Monday.

Groups wanting to march will be restricted to a single route, and protesters will generally be confined to a set area.

Neither the route nor the location of the stationary area has been set, Assisstant Chief Matt Bostrom said. He added that the area would be within "sight and sound" of the Xcel Center. Protest groups would be allowed to follow each other along the planned protest route.

Call me Captain Obvious, but I'm guessing this is going to cause quite a stir. While St. Paul police did say there would be no fences to section off areas where people can protest, I think many protest groups hoped to have 'free reign' of the area and will be disappointed (at the least) that their protest is going to be restricted to one route.