Denver weather has picked up lately with a couple glorious 65-degree sunshine-filled days. At Occupy Denver, where protesters have braved months of frigid temperatures, this is undoubtedly a welcome development, and one of the group's few bright spots. The group has faced down a bit of negative publicity lately, including reports of scabies and accusations of assaulting a police officer. And after a recent expletive-laden scuffle with Fox31 politics reporter Eli Stokols, we can't imagine relations with the media will improve any time soon.
Stokols was recording a live segment in Civic Center Park on March 8, when protesters stepped into the background of his report holding signs that read "F**K The POLICE" and "POLICE ARE THE ARMY of THE RICH." The encounter forced the Fox31 crew to halt their broadcast and led to a less than civil exchange between both sides.
Confronted by one protester who tells Stokols, "You make up lies," Stokols responds: "We've covered your issues, we've [been out here], we covered Michael Moore, we've covered regular people standing out across the street ... and we've covered the police. We've covered your meetings with the police ... I'm in the middle of a liveshot so this is not the time to debate with you guys."
After the provocation ends the broadcast, Stokols lets loose: "When I'm live on f**king television, and you can film this [he says to the man with the camera], you don't come up and f**k us up.."
"You want to be taken seriously?" Stokols asks the protesters, "You want the media to respect your point of view? Then you respect us."
Westword reports the Occupy Denver group was led by Caryn Sodaro.
WATCH the interaction above. The video features NSFW langauge.