For DNC protesters, it's all in the details
Organizers meet about child care, legal aid, housing
By Jeff Kass, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 16, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
They discussed child care and police brutality. Rock music and the news media. Housing and text messaging.
Planning a protest involves a lot of diverse details.
On a recent Thursday night in a downtown Denver park, some 35 protest organizers sat cross- legged and talked about how to lead possibly tens of thousands of demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25-28.
A lot goes into it - and demonstrators are getting better at it.
Protesters across the country have become more sophisticated in the past six years as they organized demonstrations opposing the Iraq War, said University of Florida assistant professor of political science Michael Heaney. He researches protest movements and will conduct a study of delegates and protesters at the DNC and Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
"It (organizing protests) is something a small number of people have actually gotten quite good at doing," he said.
The protest group Re-create 68 Alliance has held Thursday evening planning meetings at Lincoln Park in front of the state Capitol. Participants recently ranged from a representative of the Communist Party USA to a woman selling text messaging services.
At a meeting last week, organizers discussed the availability of self-defense classes and criminal defense attorneys. Housing was on the agenda as was child care, especially if a parent is arrested.
A key unknown is whether violence will break out. Denver police have been meeting with protesters but are also adding hundreds of officers from outside departments to keep the peace and provide security. The city has set up a temporary detention center for arrestees.
On another day, the People's Law Project held legal observer training. The Project is connected with the Colorado Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and aims "to defend dissent" at the DNC, according to its Web site.
If there's a confrontation between police and protesters, observers will record what they see on paper or film. They'll wear bright green baseball caps that read "National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer."
The training also involved role playing. A woman playing a police officer wielding a mock baton "fought" with protesters in two quick skits. Instructors checked the notes taken by the legal observer trainees: Did they get the time and place of the encounter? What did the officer and the protesters say? What was the officer's badge number?
Attorney Richard Everstine said he is not protesting and does not necessarily sympathize with protesters. But he wants to help ensure their First Amendment rights. Legal observers like him "hopefully . . . will have a calming effect on both sides."
If anyone should get injured - protesters, police, or journalists - volunteer street medics will offer help, said Zoe Williams, the Colorado Street Medics coordinator.
Street medics, which date to the 1960's civil rights movement, have approximately 24 hours of training, Williams said. They can tell sprains from fractures, negotiate with police, and carry sunscreen and water. Some are doctors, nurses or paramedics.
Williams said street medics wear their own clothes and typically buy their own supplies. Their "uniforms" consist of red duct tape with the Red Cross symbol on their clothing.
But Heaney, the professor, doesn't expect any riots. He says of the protesters, "What they want is media coverage."
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August 16, 2008
9:14 a.m.
Suggest removal
profshults writes:
How about "For DNC protestors, it's all in the stereotypes". Are all the role-playing scenarios about Neanderthal cops wearing oversized aviator sunglasses and lugging a big nightstick? It's been nothing but constant hate mongering and suspicion with accounts of protestor "training" in regard to law enforcement during the convention. Sounds like they'll be very disappointed if they don't get a good beating on video.
August 16, 2008
12:15 p.m.
Suggest removal
Benighse writes:
It's time to put Obama to work for all America. It's nice to be FOR something. It'll be great to see healthcare initiatives, housing solutions, economic answers, an end to wasting money in Iraq, welcoming a new day for international relations where we enlist support from our allies to help solve problems and make the world a better place, re-gain respect for U.S. policies at home and abroad, get solar and wind power projects going now--and even hydrogen cell power for the next generation of cars within years not decades, improve the medicare and medicaid programs based on assisting the generations that earned it, and having the new generation pick up the mantle and now earn their keep, ...and still have time to enjoy BRONCO games.
August 17, 2008
10:57 a.m.
Suggest removal
Mugwump writes:
On August 17, 2004, John Kerry led in states with 327 electoral votes on electotal-vote.com (including OH, FL, MO, WV, and NM, all of which he lost in November).
On August 17, 2008, Obama is ahead in states with 275 electoral votes on electoral-vote.com, an ominous sign for his November prospects.