Suit threat heats up

Abortion foes seek permits to protest; city still deciding

April M. Washington, Rocky Mountain News

Friday, November 2, 2007

Anti-abortion activists threatened to sue the city of Denver for not giving them permits Thursday to demonstrate during the Democratic National Convention, but the city said the protesters knew the process is on hold.

National groups want their permits to hold prayer vigils and demonstrations at Civic Center and Lincoln parks - several blocks from the Pepsi Center where Democrats will gather in August to pick their 2008 presidential nominee.

Organizers with the Christian Defense Coalition - a group known for graphic posters of aborted fetuses - said the city is violating their First Amendment rights.

Coalition director the Rev. Patrick Mahoney said he hopes to recruit 1,500 to 2,000 volunteers to denounce what he called the Democratic Party's abortion-rights agenda during the convention.

"We're saying to the city of Denver and the DNC committee, do not crush our First Amendment rights to express our beliefs," said Mahoney. "Do not trample our free speech rights."

The leaders of Operation Rescue and Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust joined Mahoney in urging Denver to allow their "message to go forth peacefully without obstruction."

The city on Thursday began accepting special-event permit applications for 2008 at the Denver Parks and Recreation Department on a first-come, first- served basis.

Last month, the city yanked 14 downtown parks from the list for special permits during the last two weeks of August because of convention security considerations that have yet to be worked out between Denver and the Secret Service, said parks and recreation spokeswoman Jill McGran-ahan.

"The city is working to create a permitting policy for those parks," she said. "I don't know what the process is going to look like, but we want it to create a process that is fair and equitable."

McGranahan said the anti- abortion group, among others, had been notified about the city's decision to temporarily halt the permitting process for certain parks.

"Because they were aware of it, they figured they'd come down and protest anyway," she said.

At a news conference Thursday in front of the Pepsi Center, Mahoney urged the city not to let the Secret Service push protesters away from the convention site.

He said protesters in Boston and New York in 2004 were kept behind chain-link-fenced areas that resembled cattle pens.

"We are not animals. We will not be herded into a free-speech pen. We want to hold peaceful demonstrations," he said.

Denver officials have said while the city's priorities in hosting the DNC are safety and security, protesters will likely be allowed to rally within view of the Pepsi Center.

DNC-affected parks

Denver temporarily blocked the use of the following 14 parks until DNC security concerns are settled:

City of Cuernavaca Park

Confluence Park

Gates–Crescent Park

Fishback Landing Park

Platte River Trail

Cherry Creek Trail

Skatepark

Creek Front Park

Civic Center

Pioneer Monument Park - Colfax and Broadway

Skyline Park - South, Middle and North

Eddie Maestas Park

Lincoln Park

Macintosh ParkSource: Denver Parks And Recreation

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