Security Headaches Few; Protesters Fewer

by John Maggs and Dan Friedman

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008


With protesters far fewer in number, polite to the police, and staying away from the Pepsi Center, the plan to sharply restrict their access to the Democratic National Convention seems to be a success.

"It is not a success for free speech," said Lauren Frinkman, a volunteer with the Colorado chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. "It is a success from the point of view of safety; I guess you could say that."

After a Sunday in which small numbers of protesters managed to shut down access to the convention hall, briefly close streets and precipitate some minor confrontations with police, activists had even more trouble drawing a crowd on Monday. One group of several hundred gathered at the federal courthouse and did a dramatic and realistic performance of three people being waterboarded, to protest what they said was a Bush administration policy authorizing torture of prisoners in U.S. custody. An effort to encircle the U.S. Mint building and "levitate" it, akin to a similar protest years ago at the Pentagon, turned up only 75 people, who were easily outnumbered by police.

Meanwhile, security that caused several hour-long bottlenecks for media and convention staff over the weekend was working much more smoothly for nearly 4,500 delegates and thousands of guests who arrived for the opening of the convention. Although a single entrance with two or three metal detectors was the only channel into the convention area on Saturday and Sunday, security officials on Monday opened four separate entrances, with at least 26 metal detectors, not including a large inspection station for VIP guests and their vehicles.

As a result, convention-goers faced waits of 10 minutes or less. Delegates, who arrived mostly by bus, were routed to a designated entrance on the northwest side of the convention zone. From there, at least 20 people stationed at the doors of the Pepsi Center checked identification, and delegates hardly had to pause.

Months ago, Denver took a stern line with protest groups, limiting them to a remote corner of the Pepsi Center parking lot, hidden from the hall by a large media tent, and surrounded by high fences and netting.

While officials issued permits for gatherings far from the convention area, they limited marches to the Pepsi Center to early in the day, before delegates arrive for official business. Through the ACLU, protesters sued over the restrictions, asserting that they were an unconstitutional abridgement of speech and assembly, but they lost, and abandoned appeals.

Meanwhile, police confirmed a report in Convention Nightly on Monday that a police officer had shot one protester with two nonlethal pepper balls. Lt. Ron Saunier said that the protester lunged at an officer attempting to make an arrest, and a fellow officer discharged the round. The protester who was struck fled the scene and was not identified.

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