"People started leaving - just like the police asked - and as they were moving, the teargas was shot"
Stephen Hatch
phone: (970) 493-8174
It seems to me that
there's a disparity between what I saw at the peace rally and what the Denver
Post writes about it this morning. It says: "Tear gas was thrown into the street
after a group of self-proclaimed anarchists rushed from the rally . . . and
blocked motorists at Maizeland and Academy roads." Another article says that
protestors in the street caused the police to block off Academy. Here's what I
remember:
After the rally at Palmer Park, the police directed us both ways on Academy. I
went up toward Constitution. Partway up, I stopped with others along the
sidewalk and took up my position. After a while, there was no more traffic
coming down the street. A police vehicle sped toward Constitution. My question
is: were protesters blocking Constitution and Academy, and that's why the police
blocked off the entire road? At the time, I didn't think so. I figured the
police were just trying to keep motorists from seeing us.
So I moved down toward Constitution, because I could see that traffic was still
flowing there. I figured the motorists would see us there. When I got to the
intersection, I saw the some protesters moving back and forth from street corner
to street corner - in a circular motion - obeying the traffic lights. It was a
legal action. Next thing I knew, the police were arresting a guy - seemingly
totally unprovoked - and put him in the patrol car. They pushed a guy aside who
was trying to videotape the scene.
In the meantime, since the road had been blocked long before, some musicians
went out into Academy - far from the intersection - in order to see better. The
police donned riot gear, and marched down toward them, announcing that they
would be arrested if they didn't leave the street. They left, and all of us
moved back toward Palmer Park. The police response seemed totally uncalled for -
overly melodramatic.
When I got back to Maizeland and Academy, there was a guy lying face-down in the
street. The police had arrested him. Some women told me that a woman in the
crowd had started pushing another woman around, and that this guy had risen to
her defense. The police let her go, and yet arrested the guy. It didn't make
sense. Did the police plant the woman to start a fight?
Then, the police told us to disperse. A cop said over the megaphone: "This rally
is no longer a legal assembly. Disperse immediately; you have thirty seconds."
What I saw next, I couldn't believe. People started leaving - just like the
police asked - and as they were moving, the teargas was shot. Somebody kicked
one canister back toward the police (who were wearing gas masks). Why did the
police shoot teargas when people were already moving? Then, they started
following people - shields and all - into the grass field where cars were
parked. More teargas canisters were fired. Then I left.
What I saw does not square with what the newspaper reports. Did I miss
something? It seems to me that the police were overly melodramatic, and that
they actually caused any animosity that occurred, which was limited to
protesters cussing at the police.