Police Attacked Protestors in Colorado Springs

updated 02/26/03

02/15/03: Police fire tear gas, rubber bullets at Springs war protest--Associated Press

02/15/03: Mile High Resistance report

02/16/03: Anti-war protest turns ugly--Anslee Willett, Colorado Springs Gazette

02/16/03: Arrests, tear gas hit war protest in Colorado Springs-- Eileen Kelley, Denver Post

 02/18/03: In Colorado Springs, call for peace can bring tear gas--Mike Littwin, Rocky Mountain News

 02/18/03: War protesters blast tear-gas use by Springs police--Cate Terwilliger, Denver Post

  02/19/03: Police: Group sought, got confrontation--Cate Terwilliger, Denver Post (below)

02/20/03: Mile High Resistance refutes the Springs Police asserts

and a response to the police from a CCMEP member

02/26/03: Police will modify response to protest--Denver Post shorts

02/26/03: Not enough police at rally, chief says--Deedee Correll, Colorado Springs Gazette

Eyewitness reports from Greg Cicciu (CCMEP member), David Jaggar, Chris Wade, Tony Alcantara, Cynthia Brix,

Kale McEwan Kevan, C. Montgomery, Stephen Hatch, Theresa M. Duncan, Molly OHakes, Taylor Pendergrass

Extensive comments and eyewitness reports from Colorado Springs are being added here

See CCMEP photos (below)

More photos by Avery Bloom, August Allen, Joe Chizmas, Luke Melia and Pablito

Send your eyewitness report and/or comments to ccmep_organizer@yahoo.com

Police: Group sought, got confrontation

Springs chief takes on critics of rally response

By Cate Terwilliger
Denver Post Southern Colorado Bureau

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 - COLORADO SPRINGS - Police Chief Luis Velez said Tuesday that officers used tear gas on war protesters only after the tenor of a mostly peaceful rally had changed dramatically and self- proclaimed anarchists began jumping on cars.

Velez estimated that 150 unruly protesters were still blocking a major intersection when two canisters of tear gas were fired at 2:23 p.m. Saturday, one hour and 23 minutes after the demonstrators were first told by officers using bullhorns to disperse. "They were pounding on vehicles; people inside the cars were calling 911 because they felt threatened," Velez said.

He said canisters were fired at the ground - not into nearby Palmer Park and a parking lot where peaceful protesters were trying to reach their cars - but the gas no doubt drifted. "Some people who were admittedly peaceful demonstrators got to smell some of that gas, got to taste some of that gas," Velez said.

The department has drawn criticism since the rally. But Velez said e-mails police obtained before the rally indicated that the "Ashira Affinity" group intended to break away from the planned march at 12:30 p.m., occupy the street and possibly vandalize businesses and cause injury. The group apparently is affiliated with Mile High Resistance, a network of anarchists and radicals based in Denver.

"These were people who came here to our city who premeditated to take this event and create a confrontation," said Velez, who noted that only eight of the 35 people arrested Saturday were from Colorado Springs. "They got a confrontation."

An account posted by a Mile High Resistance "agent" on the group's website calls the action a "revolutionary dance party and breakaway march" and mocks police. "Riot cops in full storm trooper gear piled out like it was a clown car," the account says. "The radicals took it upon themselves to parade the riot squad around town and show people what the cops were really like once they shed their polite veneer."

Velez fielded questions from more than two dozen reporters at a question-and-answer session as criticism of Colorado Springs police mounted.

Meanwhile, protest organizers have condemned the breakaway faction, which they say ignored a nonviolence pledge. But Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission executive director Dorothy Schlaeger questioned parts of the police account, including whether peaceful protesters were able to hear police warnings to disperse before it was too late. "I know they (police) were provoked," she said. "But the police violence far outweighed the violence of those who were provocative."

Mile High Resistance refutes the Springs Police asserts

 

A response from a CCMEP member

As one of the four Street Medics present at the scene (see my pictures below), I didn't see any violence from protestors, not even provocation. If a group of protestors crossed several street intersections, that group, as a group, never challenged police orders. I didn't see anybody jumping on cars.

I didn't hear any order to disperse prior to 2:23 pm (only orders to keep on the side-walks). One order to disperse was given by 2:23 pm, and gas canisters were shot immediately after. A few minutes later, and after a second series of gas canisters was shot, I heard more than one rubber bullet shot (3 or 4).

At 2:23 pm, at the Academy Bd and Maizeland intersection, the police riot squad was alone in the street (no group of demonstrators was in the street, just a few individuals crossing it) when they fired the first tear-gas canisters in the street (photo 1). A few minutes later, as a crowd present in an improvised parking lot across the street from Palmer Park was dispersing, a second series of gas canisters was shot (photo 2). More than two tear gas canisters were shot. Since the wind was moving from South to North, most of the tear gas ended into Palmer Park. Many pictures and video films would easily contradict the Police Chief's statement.

Peaceful gatherings against the "preemptive" use of violence (war on Iraq) should not be used as training fields for police riot squads. The use of pepper spray and tear gas was not justified, and several people, including children, resulted affected.

Remy Kachadourian. Denver, 02/20/03.

 

 

Panoramic view of the rally (photo by J.P. Randolph Jenkins)

Click on photo for bigger format

Photos by Remy Kachadourian (CCMEP)

More photos by Avery Bloom, August Allen, Joe Chizmas, Luke Melia and Pablito

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