Despite a persistent winter season in Denver, events around the country have compelled local activists to return to the street. This past Saturday (April 17) Denver saw three separate protests. All of them were a direct reaction to the police killing of Daunte Wright in the Minneapolis suburb, Brooklyn Central and the body cam video released in Chicago of the shooting of 13 year old Adam Toledo (and probably a few other events as well).
First protest of the day organized by Ashira C who has been a consistent and visible organizer since the early days of the George4 Floyd protests. She is quite young but also quite impressive. She is very focused on social justice for all people of color and it shows in the speeches she and her collaborators make. I have not met her personally but I do hope that happens at some point.
This group does not show a lot of sympathy or alignment with the "burn the system down" anarchist types. I would characterize it more like both groups support social justice and are vocal activists on police reform. That's how it comes across in what they say and do.
I'm just okay at crowd estimation but I would say this group was around a 600-700 people give or take a few.
I walked with this protest march from the capitol, east on Colfax, down the 6th street mall, across Larimer Square and back to Civic Center. It was a peaceful march with lots of speeches along the way. This was the "official" BLM march this weekend.
A second protest march, organized by PSL (the Party for Socialism and Liberation) was also organized to convene at the Capitol a couple hours later.
The group looked roughly the same size the the BLM - maybe a bit smaller.
When the BLM group returned to Civic Center Park, the PSL group was over at the capitol ready to go on its march.
The two groups did not mix though there were definitely people who walked from one to the other. The BLM group ended up behind the Capitol on the east side to end while the PSL groups took off down Lincoln.
I've pointed this out before but the diversity of groups and how they relate to each other is interesting. I don't know the specifics but there is commonality of cause and certain beliefs, but there is also some animosity as some claim certain groups have hijacked the George Floyd protest movement for their own purposes.
Overall, there were a close to a couple thousand people out protesting that afternoon.
The third protest of the day started in the evening and was only promoted on a limited list. It was much more the black bloc night crew that marches out of Cheesman Park - if I had to guess, I'd say many of the same people at the post election march and the Biden inauguration day marches. I did not attend this but I did watch the replay of the live stream and it look like less that 100 people, majority in black bloc. The
A display of tombstones at the Capitol with the names of people killed by police.
Walking up Colfax by the Cathedral.
Legal observer in the green vest.
Crowd with a Communist Party of America flag marches past District 6 police station.
They have pretty much surround District 6 station with 10 foot fencing and blinds that make it impossible to see into the compound. This seems to befuddle the protesters who had a clear view into the lot sell last summer.
"Fuck Trump, Fuck Biden too...they don't give a fuck about you." You hear this lots, usually from the far left or anarchist groups. It's worth pointing out that pretty much anybody can start a chant and its not uncommon to hear different chants at the front and back of long marches.
Heading into the downtown core.
It's always interesting to see the participants who show up. There were several of these types decked in military style gear - some with first aid kits on their backs. I always try to notice the patches. I did not recognized the one's pictured here.
The Rainbow Parasol Patrol is a mutual aid group that provides traffic security on all sides of this march. They trot ahead and make sure that no cars approach the march from the sides. DPD also provides traffic control - normally a block away on either side where they stop traffic as the march proceeds.
PSL dude giving the opening speech back at the Capitol. He has faced legal trouble for the surrounding of the Aurora police station (Ft. Aurora the Bronx) and was arrested and charged with kidnapping. Most of these charges have been dismissed by the courts.
PSL takes off.
I did not attend the evening protest. I did not see anything about it but I did catch a live stream that was up for a day or so before it disappeared. It was mostly black bloc types and was most definitely less than 100 people. Probably closer to 60-70.
It seemed like they had agreed they would not engage in any property destruction other than leaving a trail of graffiti crumbs for the march. I followed the trail the next day. I would post a link to the live stream but it seems to be gone. And while I saw no destruction or violence, you could hear spray paint being applied off camera at points.
Across the street from the Governor's Mansion.
9th and Lincoln.
Lincoln St.
More Lincoln.
Back up 11th towards Cheesman Park
11th St in Capitol Hill. (FTP = Fuck the Police) - I noticed that most of the tagging was done on either public property of large commercial properties. Not much solace for this homeowner however.
It was a low key night for the more anarcho aligned group this night. It's worth noting that the BLM and PSL people are not normally seen on these marches. They have larger groups and make it clear they are not partaking in vandalism or property destruction.
So, when you feel yourself trying to group all of these protesters into one big collection of vandals, looters and commies, please realize that this is far from the case. I've said it many times before - the commonality to support for police reform, not the tactics the various groups use to express their outrage.
You see...its all more complicated that we see on TV.
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