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.

??There will be no business as usual in Denver during the DNC!? declares a posting on the site DNCDisruption08.org. ??While they??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.?

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.

??It??s a different feeling than Boston, that??s for sure,? Spagnulo said. ??I think you??re going to see one of the larger protests at a Democratic Convention.?

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 ??Born on the Fourth of July? 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 ??protest in a law-abiding manner.?

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

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

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

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

Plastic piping for bombs; and

Large numbers of bicycles used for ??bike blocks? 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 ??protest zone? 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 ??The Freedom Cage? by activists.

??They??re starting to get ready to rock,? Spagnulo said of the police. ??And we??ll be out there in the streets with them.?

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 city??s security plan.

??The city said from the beginning that they wanted to strike a balance between First Amendment rights and security,? said Mark Cohen of Recreate 68. ??But with the plan they??ve put in place, the balance is tipped way toward security. Clearly, they??d be happy if we went away. They don??t want us spoiling their party.?
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:
Psycho4Bud Reviewed by Psycho4Bud on . 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. ??There will be no business as usual in Denver during the Rating: 5