Protesters, police gird for action at DNC

Denver authorities are bracing for chaos as up to 50,000 protesters head for the Democratic National Convention next week and police scour the Mile High City for weapons and contraband stashes they fear could be used by mayhem-minded street warriors.

Protesters, meanwhile, are brazenly posting calls to action on activist Web sites, some of which openly call for disrupting the convention, blocking streets and harassing delegates.

â??There will be no business as usual in Denver during the DNC!â?� declares a posting on the site DNCDisruption08.org. â??While theyâ??re giving windbag speeches and doing really bad karaoke and charging a thousand dollars a plate to fill their election coffers, anarchists, agitators and other assorted clowns will be on hand to disrupt the flow of capital and corporate cronyism that funds this sham democracy.â?�

Glenn Spagnulo of Recreate 68, an activist group named for the notoriously bloody 1968 DNC in Chicago, was in Boston for the 2004 convention but said he expects far more virulent demostrations in Denver targeting the war, human rights atrocities and corporate greed.

â??Itâ??s a different feeling than Boston, thatâ??s for sure,â?� Spagnulo said. â??I think youâ??re going to see one of the larger protests at a Democratic Convention.â?�

Boston officials spent millions preparing for massive protests during the 2004 Democratic National Convention that never materialized.

While the Hub was light on big-name radicals, Denver activists will be fired up by the likes of Fred Hampton Jr., whose Black Panther father, Fred, was gunned down by Chicago police in 1969, former Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver, Vietnam vet and â??Born on the Fourth of Julyâ?� author Ron Kovic, and anti-abortion activist Randall Terry.

There will also be free concerts by politically charged rap groups Public Enemy and Dead Prez and rap-metal band Rage Against the Machine, which was onstage when riots broke out at the 2000 DNC in Los Angeles.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the city expects demonstrators to â??protest in a law-abiding manner.â?�

â??But,â?� he said, â??history says at conventions and things like this you do have people who are disruptive. We hope it doesnâ??t happen, but you have to be prepared.â?�

Wary that anarchists may be arming themselves, Denver police warned officers to â??be on the lookout for stockpiles and caches of supplies that could be used by violent demonstrators,â?� including:

Metal or plastic shields with sharpened edges and protruding screws that could be used â??as slashing weaponsâ?�;

Cases of nails that could injure police horses or flatten tires;

Plastic piping for bombs; and

Large numbers of bicycles used for â??bike blocksâ?� to clog streets.

Boston cops issued similar warnings in 2004 but protests were mostly peaceful. During the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City, however, cops clashed with protesters and arrested hundreds.

Denver police have set up a detention camp for law-breakers and created a â??protest zoneâ?� near the Pepsi Center where the DNC will be staged, much like the controversial pen erected outside the TD Banknorth Garden in 2004. The Denver zone has been sarcastically dubbed â??The Freedom Cageâ?� by activists.

â??Theyâ??re starting to get ready to rock,â?� Spagnulo said of the police. â??And weâ??ll be out there in the streets with them.â?�

And just as in Boston, activists filed a lawsuit over the protest zone, claiming it violated free speech rights. A Colorado federal judge disagreed and approved the cityâ??s security plan.

â??The city said from the beginning that they wanted to strike a balance between First Amendment rights and security,â?� said Mark Cohen of Recreate 68. â??But with the plan theyâ??ve put in place, the balance is tipped way toward security. Clearly, theyâ??d be happy if we went away. They donâ??t want us spoiling their party.â?�
Protesters, police gird for action at DNC - BostonHerald.com

So what are your feelings on this? Protesters put into seperate cages side by side in one designated area. For security reasons? To avoid a disruption at the convention?

Sounds more like their treating these people like zoo animals to me. I'm all for security but this is way out of line for either party. As long as it remains a peacefull demonstration I think they have the right for getting a permit and demonstrating out in public, NOT behind a cage.

Ya know, this convention does bring in alot of money for the community but it's the citizens of this city that will suffer here. Between roads being shut down, 50,000 demonstrators expected, etc...; hell, I'd go on a weeks vacation just so I didn't have to contend with the b.s..

Have a good one!:s4:

Im here in DENVER.... wow what a bunch of IDIOTS down there

I hope the denver police (coming from someone who has been arrested ticked, by DPD, for skateboarding btw..hate them bastards) I hope they use that sound machine on them and it Makes them SHIT them selves all over the place.....

Then we will have a bunch of Shitty Libs downtown......:D


man I kill myself

The ordinance makes it illegal to carry any tool, object, or instrument that can be used to obstruct roadways, sidewalks, or the entrances of buildings. This includes chains, quick setting cement, padlocks, handcuffs and other locking devices. It also prohibits the possession of noxious substances. Two of the most frequently used examples of a noxious substance are a bucket of urine and a "feces bomb."
cbs4denver.com - Denver City Council Bans Human Waste From Protesters

I can understand "why" on alot of these items but chains and padlocks? Yeah the protestors can chain themselves up yadda, yadda BUT isn't one of the Conventions goals about being green? I'd hate like hell to leave on of these expensive bikes parked somewhere within the city without being locked up.

Just like at a residential party...if ya can't control the crowd, don't throw the bash.

Hey Bong, are ya going to go check out the monkeys in the Freedom Cages? I really can't believe that they practice something like this here in the states.:wtf:

Have a good one!:s4:

P4b, Im not even going downtown next week..

I hope they dont even use those cages, just a few here in there no problem.

With groups like...."recreate 68" they had to "prepare for the worst and hope for the best". Isnt that boy scout stuff.... no wonder libs hate it.

It would be better for them to get aressted...if mobs of Idiots start roaming the streets and burning and looting......I will defend my property, as will many other Coloradans.....arrested protestor better than dead protestor.. I guess.

They are spending 100 million on security on Bolth conventions....WOW


They are giving warning about people sleeping in the parks around my house?????

After carefully pandering to the mindless masses of Anit-America, the Democrats are getting exactly what they deserve if you ask me! No one should be surprised by this, after all the Democrats are horrible sore losers! Now look at them it's going to bite them in the ass. Guess that's what happens when you try to build a constituency on ignorant, sheeple that really only want to be combative and cause mayhem. None of these attitudes are new, it's just that now half of their party has completely turned against them! Can anyone say "self destruct button"?:thumbsup:
Now it gonna be even better come 2012 when Billary runs again and half the party hates her still!

They said they were going to have 50,000 people.... HAHAHAHAH

200 does NOT equal 50,000



DENVER - Protestors, which included members of the "Re-create 68" group, blocked the entrance to the Pepsi Center for 15 minutes on Sunday, before dispersing.


The protestors, who were chanting anti-war rhetoric, marched from the Colorado State Capitol, down Colfax to Speer, then down Speer to Auraria, where they ended in front of the site of the Democratic National Convention.

The protestors forced authorities to lockdown the entrance to the Pepsi Center for about 15 moderately-tense minutes. Denver Police were on scene in full riot gear. Several observers looked on, taking photos.

However, when police asked the group to disperse, they did.

The media was affected the most by the lockdown.

Denver Police say the entrance that was blocked on Sunday could not be blocked once the convention begins since Auraria Street, where the protestors marched, will be closed beginning Monday.

Earlier in the day, the same group of protestors, wearing T-shirts that read "No More Politics as Usual," helped kick off the initial, large-scale protest during the week of the Democratic National Convention.

"The whole world is watching! The whole world is watching!" the crowd chanted on the front steps of the Colorado State Capitol, trying to echo the feelings of the 1968 DNC in Chicago.

The morning's rally featured speakers such as noted war critic Cindy Sheehan and Ron Kovic, of "Born on the Fourth of July" fame.

"We now know we can be silent no more!" Sheehan told the crowd which numbered in the hundreds.

Dozens of police officers, many of them on bikes, watched the crowd from a number of nearby locations. Despite a small scuffle, mostly involving members of the media, the morning's session went on without many problems or confrontations.

Sheehan told the crowd of about 200 demonstrators Sunday that not much has changed since her month-long war protest outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, in 2005.

"Now three years later, our country is still mired in the Middle East. We're talking about more war, more cold war, and Russia and Georgia, and invading Iran and Pakistan," she said.

The protest is the first of at least five planned this week by the group Re-create 68.

Sheehan, whose son was killed in the Iraq war, went to Crawford during Bush's August 2005 vacation and demanded to talk to him about the conflict. The protest drew more than 10,000 people, many of whom camped along the two-lane road leading to the ranch.

Nearby, about 50 counter-demonstrators waved American flags, sang the National Anthem and hoisted signs praising GOP candidate John McCain and Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. troops in Iraq.

One sign had an arrow pointing to the war protesters with the words "Al-Qaida Fan Club."

"I don't get why they don't understand," said 23-year-old Michael Haynes of Fort Collins, who said he served two tours in Iraq with the Marines.

Among the protesters at Sunday's rally in Denver was Nancy Minshall, who lived in Chicago in 1968. She says she doesn't expect the protests planned in Denver to compare to the riots in Chicago 40 years ago because there's more tolerance for free speech today.

"It was outrageous," said Minshall, who wore a polo shirt with a peace sign. "It was a situation that just grew worse, kind of like Kent State."

National Guard troops opened fire on anti-war protesters at Ohio's Kent State University on May 4, 1970, killing four students and wounding nine.





If you guys want to keep in touch with the DNC nut jobs....

Try
Myfoxcolorado.com
9news.com