On Wednesday evening, the night after the election, a group of protesters gathered in a dark corner in Cheeseman Park to march. It was about 150-200 people, mostly dressed in black bloc.
To be honest, the darkness of the park and the marchers attire intimidated me. Long gone were the days of George Floyd marches. These were pretty hardcore, mostly white antifa/anarchist sorts. I needed to be careful.
They marched to Colfax and down to the Capitol building and then back up Colfax to the District 6 Police Station. I chose to follow them in my car, with the intention of parking and walking with them at an opportune time.
As they got back toward the police station on Colfax and Clarkson, I joined the march. Not long after that, I was approached by a couple of guys in gas masks who asked if I was an independent. I presume they were doing security and making sure that I did not have ill intentions. This kind of interaction has increased since the summer as crowd size has dropped and militia counter protesters have increased their own surveillance. I also think it might have been linked to what was planned to happen later.
I'm not offended by this. It's scary on the street at this moment only a month out from the shooting at Civic Center Park. I explained what I a journalist, not a cop or a "Chud", and we all moved on. This is a very common type of interaction.
The marchers chanted things like "Fuck Joe Biden, Fuck Donald Trump, DPD killed 8 last month" - this was not what I would call a BLM march, but more of a loose collection of hard core left wingers protesting general police brutality. Some might say antifa. Other might say anarchist. Probably a blend.
The police were well prepared and ready for action as they followed the group. It was only a few days earlier that a similar group had wrecked havoc on downtown.
As the group worked its way up Colfax back towards its starting point, individuals began breaking windows and police engaged the crowd.
In the clip above you can hear the glass break at the First Bank. Police remained relatively calm. Reaction seemed more like, "hey, you guys are breaking windows and shit, what do you expect us to do?" I've seen plenty to riot trucks roll to peaceful protests and go home without ever stepping off the running board. Not the case on this night. But this was driven by the actions of the protest, which very much appear to have been premeditated.
The plan might have been something like: Cheesman Park to the Capital building, then back up Colfax, start smashing the symbols of globalization after we smash the check cashing place windows. It kinda looked like that.
On this particular night, the traveling peanut gallery of filmers and watchers, neighbors and legal observers were on the sidewalk, while the protesters and police were in the street. Colfax is like that. I have not seen the police pay too much attention to this sidewalk, mostly because they don't seem to be directly participating and don't look like they pose a threat. In some cases there are activist media - people who are legitimately reporting, but from an activist point of view, and I wonder if some of their taunts might not turn the police's ire towards its flanks. So far I've not seen this.
DPD learned a lot from the protests in May and June that were really large and scary from a police perspective and they reacted in a way many people think made the reaction in the street worse. When those tactics changed after the first few days, actions were mostly peaceful. (not all) On this night DPD escorted and followed closely, with riot troops ready to roll in, but they didn't move in with a heavy hand until there was destruction. From the edge of the action, they looked pretty methodical and did not seem enraged or agitated as a group.
Police made a number of arrests. They were capable of tracking people down that they had targeted. It looks like they keep back up police units on the next two parallel streets that can easily come to Colfax to back up, or block alleys and side streets should they try to box in certain groups for arrest. Note to protesters, the police can be sneaky too!
The windows to the bank foyer broken.
I didn't really see the point of this evening for the protesters other than to say, election or not, they are not going away and will continue their struggle against system. I'll ask more people at the next one.
These images and clips do give a good sense of how these smaller protests happen on the street.
The evening ended as the crowd slipped back into the Cheesman neighborhood as it broke up. The actions are strange like that. They can dissipate very quickly as happened this night. The police and the peanut gallery got focused on couple of arrests and the main crowd of protesters, the one's who were smashing the windows, quietly melted into the neighborhood.
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