Protesters Denounce Police Tactics

Mayor Defends Authorities, While Holding Facility Dubbed 'Guantanamo On The Platte'

by Dan Friedman and John Maggs

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008


A confrontation late Monday night and early Tuesday morning between police and up to 600 protesters constituted a dry run by law enforcement for possibly bigger conflicts at Barack Obama's Invesco Field speech Thursday and a test of the resolve of protesters to face armed riot police and the prospect of jail time.

Smaller protests continued Tuesday and protest leaders sharply increased their criticism of police tactics. Police claimed that rock-throwing protesters refused orders to unblock a street and provoked police into pepper spray to subdue them. Re-Create 68 leader Mark Cohen said that police surrounded a group of peaceful protesters and bystanders on a Denver street, told them to disperse when there was no channel for them to do so, and then used pepper spray indiscriminately.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper defended police tactics. "Our police used restraint," the mayor said. "When a group looks like they are bent on destruction or violence, we have to step in."

Cohen said that around 300 people, most of then bystanders to the "direct action" effort to close a block of 15th Street, were held by police for an hour before most were allowed to go.

But 106 people were arrested and most spent the night and part of Tuesday in custody. First they were sent to a temporary holding facility set up for the convention, where they were "processed" by the Denver Sheriff's Department, which prevented any from seeing attorneys. Colorado ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein said that the arrests almost surely violated legal guidelines that require "probable cause" of an illegal action by each individual. He called police tactics in general "excessive."

Protesters had called the temporary facility near Denver's major river "Guantanamo on the Platte," for its use of chain-link fences, but another common feature may be the denial of access to lawyers. Protesters were eventually transferred to courtrooms and lockups at the City and County Building, where they got access to lawyers. Until then, while in the temporary facility, lawyers were refused access to their clients. Silverstein complained that this took as long as 12 hours.

The self-styled anarchists in the group "Unconventional Denver" were at the center of the biggest conflict of the convention week so far Monday night, and most spent the night in jail. Even though some protesters view the anarchists as potential troublemakers too willing to provoke police, a broad array of advocates for protesters condemned the tactics of police as provocative.

Nick Robinson, a Merced, Calif., resident, told the Denver Post that his detention likely quelled his spirit to protest. "This has successfully chilled my interest in exercising my free speech rights," Robinson said. "So, congrats, Democrats, you win."

The protests so far have occurred relatively far from the Pepsi Center and had little impact on the convention, or the free movement of delegates and dignitaries. Part of the reason for the lack of impact are divisions among the protesters, some of whom are critical of each other's style, tactics, and goals. Tent State University, a student group mostly dedicated to promoting education, has been relatively quiet this week, marching little and mostly staying in City of Cuernavaca Park, several miles from the Pepsi Center. Operation Pink has tried to disrupt some smaller events around Denver, but hasn't been a factor close to the convention hall.

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