But no one gets injured as police, protesters show restraint

Judi Villaand Daniel J. Chacon, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 29, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Tim Hussin / The Rocky

Garcia Molina de Pick, of San Diego, chants during an immigrant-rights march to Lincoln Park on Thursday. Police estimated the crowd at 700 to 750; organizers put it at 5,000.

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Monday night, officers in riot gear surrounded a group of anarchists who tried to breach a police line, sprayed them with pepper spray and arrested 106.

Not exactly a best moment, by anyone's definition.

Two nights later, it was a different story when a platoon of military veterans faced off against a line of police officers at a security perimeter near the Pepsi Center. This time, police defused the situation by leading one of the veterans from the group to deliver a letter to a representative of presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

All eyes have been on the police this week, and as the Democratic National Convention wrapped up Thursday, it was time to think about how they really performed in a city clogged with tourists and attention-seeking protesters.

"It's a tale of two police departments," said Brian Vicente, executive director of the People's Law Project. "Monday night was not the police department that the people of Denver want to see. It was not a police department that was respecting free speech rights. Other than that, the police have been, by and large, respectful of protesters."

Denver police said Thursday they have opened three internal investigations stemming from officer conduct at the DNC. All three involved arrests caught on videotape and perceived as excessively violent. In one, two teenaged girls were detained briefly for drawing anti-abortion images in chalk outside Obama's hotel.

Lt. Ron Saunier said the number of incidents under investigation is a small part of the overall interaction between police and protesters this week. In most incidents, he said, "We've had a lot of individuals who have expressed their First Amendment rights, their freedom of speech, without us taking action.

"We had a lot of officers that were extremely professional," Saunier said.

Denver received a $50 million federal grant to pay for convention security. Police Chief Gerry Whitman said his goal was to respect free speech while keeping the convention safe for all who wanted to take part.

Images from the week vary from the confrontational to cops in riot gear shaking hands and laughing with protesters.

The highs: The "very good restraint" police showed during an unauthorized march on Sunday that spilled into the streets of downtown. Also, police directing an unpermitted anti-war march to the Pepsi Center on Wednesday, then working with war veterans to defuse a potentially volatile ending.

"We negotiated with them, and they dispersed peacefully," Mayor John Hickenlooper said Thursday. "Isn't that the way it's supposed to work?"

The lows: Monday night's highly publicized confrontation between police wielding pepper spray and batons and a group of anarchists who authorities say were marching towards the 16th Street Mall to cause damage. Also, a Denver officer caught on videotape Tuesday shoving a CodePink anti-war protester to the ground with a baton.

Mark Silverstein, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, said Monday's incident was a "massive and unnecessary show of force" that was not only intimidating but also had a potential chilling effect on free speech.

"The pepper spraying, the pepper balling, the holding of people behind police lines and not letting them leave for an hour or an hour and a half and then the arrests of 100 people . . . was an excessive police crackdown," Silverstein said.

But, in the end, no one was injured and fewer than 150 people were arrested.

"I think that's pretty remarkable," said Lance Clem of the Colorado Department of Public Safety. "It's restraint on the part of the protesters. It's restraint on the part of the officers. I think that everybody has pretty well behaved themselves and that goes for both sides."

Major incidents avoided

Fear of large-scale civil disorder emerged in the months and weeks preceding the Democratic National Convention. None of it came to pass.

PREDICTION

* The city would have to handle hundreds of arrests each day.

REALITY

* Fewer than 150 were arrested over five days.

* Protesters would arm themselves with feces bombs and urine-filled water balloons.

* The one suspect arrested for allegedly carrying a feces bomb says it was coffee and soy milk.

* As many as 50,000 demonstrators would fill the city's streets.

* While no one knows exactly how many came to protest, no event drew more than 3,000, and many of the participants were local.

* Demonstrators could use bicycle U-locks, carabiners or other devices to link themselves in a human chain to block traffic.

* There were no instances of anyone using this tactic. Any interference with traffic on Broadway, Colfax and other major thoroughfares was short-lived.

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