Grab your riot gear and your ear plugs before heading to church because this Saturday the Oakeshott Institute will be home to a riotous subversion of normal church etiquette. University of Minnesota student groups Substance UMN and Democracy Matters are teaming up with local activist organizations to throw a police-state themed haunted house and concert at a Dinkytown church from 8 p.m. until midnight Saturday. The groups received an $1,100 grant from MSA to throw the bash, so the event is free for students and $5 for everyone else, with all proceeds going to defer legal costs for the RNC 8, a group of eight activists facing charges for conspiracy to riot at the Republican National Convention. Max Specktor , a University student and one of the eight facing charges, said he will be trying to attend this fundraiser. The event will feature four live metal and hip-hop acts and rooms themed after a hyperbolized police state, including riot gear, prison scenes and torture chambers, Jim Forrey , Substance UMN founder, said. âÄúTake this haunted house idea and do it as a scary dystopia idea of what a police state would be like if it was full-time,âÄù Forrey said. The Evangelical Covenant Church congregation, which owned the church before the institute bought it, meets for chapel every Sunday, institute secretary Craig Johnson said. But before the Sunday church bells ring it will be filled with police, prisoners and music âÄî the first two fake and the last one live. Forrey said the themed party started as a get-out-the-vote concert, collaborated with the League of Pissed Off Voters and Friends of the RNC 8 . The Oakeshott Institute, located at the intersection of Como Ave and 14th Avenue SE, is a nonprofit education and research institute specializing in medieval history and weaponry, but also serves as a community meeting place. Read Monday’s Daily for the full story.