After a peaceful march last weekend as occupiers celebrated "Bank Transfer Day", tensions ran high again as Occupy Denver and Denver Police clashed over the weekend resulting in 17 arrests on Saturday and three more arrests on Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday, the arrests stemmed from a folding table that Occupy Denver used to serve food, The Denver Post reports, as police enforced the same ordinance that was enforced on Saturday, a "right of way" law that makes it illegal to "place any encumbrance on the public right of way" that is on "any street, alley, sidewalk, parkway or public way or place." The police had been handing out notices with the ordinance clearly stated since last week, according to Occupy Denver.
Around 4 p.m., as the police were leaving the park after removing the table, Corey Donahue, a 28-year-old Denver occupier, allegedly tried to block the way of a police cruiser. 7News reports that several other protesters surrounded the police car and began rocking it back and forth as if they were going to "tip her car over," spokesman for the Denver Police Department, Sonny Jackson said. Donahue was then arrested and charged with interfering with police. Another female protester was arrested when she pushed a police officer and the third arrest was a man that tried to interfere with the woman who was being arrested. Police then used pepper spray to disperse the park crowd.
Fox31 reports that one trooper and one officer were also injured during the arrests on Sunday and transported to a hospital.
Westword reported on Saturday that the Denver police, in "the most significant riot gear presence to date" clashed with nearly 100 protesters leading to 17 arrests for not removing personal items from the park sidewalk.
After the arrests on Saturday, Occupy Denver released this strong statement:
Once again, the DPD reaffirms its position as the most violent police force in the United States. Officers assaulted demonstrators who were just standing on the sidelines. An officer waited until a protester turned around and hit him in the back three times. They assaulted people verbally, including threats to "break the teeth" of protesters. One officer told another officer to "SHOOT EM!! SHOOT EM NOW!" One protester was struck by an officer on a motorcycle and was hospitalized. Protesters were kettled and shot with pepper-balls, according to Colorado Street Medics, who found pepper-ball shells at the scene of last night's incident. The shooting took place at 14th and Speer, eventually forcing the group to move to 16th St. Mall, where diners and theater-goers were present. The police action resulted in the closing of the 16th St. Mall bus system for civilian safety. Police actions put the general public in harms way, for no reason. All of this dangerous mayhem, completely instigated by police under the orders of our Mayor, was directed at peaceful protesters. Protestors were followed, intimidated and hunted by the police for hours after the eviction, proving that this was not about Civic Center park, but an attempt to aggressively confront the Occupy movement. These are certainly the kind of actions one might expect from the Egyptian Police in the last days of the Arab Spring, but not in Denver....
Sonny Jackson told 9News that the arrests were due to a "public safety issue," saying, "When you have people that have to walk around these things that are blocking the sidewalk, having to walk almost to the street, having them basically trip hazards and things like that, we have to be conscious of that."
The weekend of arrests began Friday when Occupy Denver attempted to disrupt a conservative bloggers conference held at the Crowne Plaza downtown. One protester was arrested
However, if the occupiers have proved anything, it is that they are resilient and that the police force used on them only seems to make them more passionate about their cause as seen when they were first evicted from Lincoln Park in mid-October. The eviction had a galvanizing affect on the movement and led to a vast increase in protester numbers in Denver immediately after with one of their largest protests to date on Oct. 15. And as of Monday morning, some protesters are back at the park.
Read the entire release below via OccupyDenver.org:
It is clear that the occupation movement has the government terrified of the emerging "people power" in America and is willing to suppress this movement by any means. In the past 24 hours, major Occupies across America were attacked and forcibly evicted. Word is that the newly emerging class consciousness in America is bad for business and must be stopped. Last night, once again, public safety and health was evoked by legal officials as a mob of Riot Police marched into Civic Center Park. In the past weeks Occupy Denver members were legally sleeping on the sidewalk without tents. A warning notice was given to the protesters late Friday night by police officials stating that "encumbrances" must be removed from public sidewalks, though no official notice of enforcement, or a time, was given. Again the government decided to change the rules and enforce its most belligerent action to date, to remove everyone from the sidewalk that in prior notices from the state were approved. When asked if ample time would be given to remove personal property, the officers responded in the affirmative. Moments later, the police moved in.
Once again, the DPD reaffirms its position as the most violent police force in the United States. Officers assaulted demonstrators who were just standing on the sidelines. An officer waited until a protester turned around and hit him in the back three times. They assaulted people verbally, including threats to "break the teeth" of protesters. One officer told another officer to "SHOOT EM!! SHOOT EM NOW!" One protester was struck by an officer on a motorcycle and was hospitalized. Protesters were kettled and shot with pepper-balls, according to Colorado Street Medics, who found pepper-ball shells at the scene of last night's incident. The shooting took place at 14th and Speer, eventually forcing the group to move to 16th St. Mall, where diners and theater-goers were present. The police action resulted in the closing of the 16th St. Mall bus system for civilian safety. Police actions put the general public in harms way, for no reason. All of this dangerous mayhem, completely instigated by police under the orders of our Mayor, was directed at peaceful protesters. Protestors were followed, intimidated and hunted by the police for hours after the eviction, proving that this was not about Civic Center park, but an attempt to aggressively confront the Occupy movement. These are certainly the kind of actions one might expect from the Egyptian Police in the last days of the Arab Spring, but not in Denver....
Our calls for the state to respect our first amendment rights have apparently fallen on deaf ears. Our attempts to negotiate through the city council, the mayor, and the governor have turned up nothing concrete. The first amendment states that it is illegal for the state to make any laws "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." For the Occupy Movement, the ability to assemble in tents is a form of free speech, and our constitutional rights have clearly been violated. The state and local governments are both in violation of the U.S. Constitution, as they are also in violation of the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We call on the Department of Justice and the UN Human Rights Commission to look into these allegations as we assert our right to freely assemble peacefully.
So far almost 4,000 folks have been arrested at Occupy demonstrations around the country, yet not a single one of the Wall Street criminals responsible for the financial ruin we find ourselves in has. We have mobilized against the greatest concentration of power known to man, and like all empires of the past, we know this one will not go down without a fight. It's been little over a month, and we can already see the tremendous positive impact the Occupy movement has had. For the fourth time in a month, they may have blocked off our park from us, but we are not going anywhere.