This morning, Denver residents, Democratic National Convention attendees, and protesters awoke to find Civic Center Park surrounded by a chain link fence. The Post reports:
Civic Center got an overnight makeover, as a chain-link fence was erected that encircles all but the western portion of the park.
An employee for the event management company on site referred all questions to Taste of Colorado, which has a permit to the park through the weekend.
The fence prohibits entrance to the park grounds.
The only problem with this is that Re-create 68 already had a permit for park demonstrations today. Back in March, Glenn Spagnuolo of Re-create 68 threw a temper tantrum threatened violence when they did not receive park permits for every day of the Democratic National Convention.
[ Glenn Spagnuolo ] said Thursday that he would not respect the host committee's permit and would occupy the park, even if it forced police to intervene.
Referring to the $50 million in federal security money slated for the convention, Spagnuolo said Denver police would need "$25 million to protect the Pepsi Center and $25 million to protect Civic Center."
Though Re-create 68 affiliates won permits for Civic Center on Aug. 25 and 27, the annual Taste of Colorado festival gets to use the park Aug. 28 through Sept. 1, which is Labor Day.
[ Glenn ] Spagnuolo called the permit process "an embarrassment." The Democrats have locked up the Pepsi Center and numerous other venues, he said, so the parks should go to free-speech activists.
Threats of violence not withstanding, it sounds like Re-create 68 has a valid grievance against Denver since they do have a permit for Civic Center Park today. The city claims the early closure was not due to the Democratic National Convention protesters, however.
The decision to erect the fence early Wednesday morning was unrelated to the disturbance of concerns that another protest might erupt, said John Harrison, spokesman for the Denver Joint Information Center.
Civic Center was the flashpoint for Monday night's clash between a protest group and police that spilled over into a tense standoff in a block-long area of 15th Street.
The decision to erect the fence early Wednesday morning was unrelated to the disturbance of concerns that another protest might erupt, said John Harrison, spokesman for the Denver Joint Information Center.
While I am no fan of the protesters and believe their actions are counterproductive, the City and County of Denver acts in bad faith when it effectively revokes a permit. As long as they are nonviolent, these protesters have the right to demonstrate in the public square and speak their beliefs. Politicians and governments lie all the time, but this level of deception when Denver is on the national stage is completely short-sighted. At a minimum, this closure gives a new excuse for the small group of protesters to become larger and more confrontational due to Denver's actual abridgment of their rights of assembly and free speech.
by Civil Sense
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