Local News

By Judith Kohler & Colleen Slevin, AP Writers
DENVER (AP) ― Police in riot gear clashed with about 300 protesters about a mile from the site of the Democratic National Convention on Monday night, and some of the demonstrators were hit with pepper spray.

Authorities said the confrontation erupted as police tried to disperse a crowd that was disrupting traffic near the Denver City and County Building, but one protester said police "were coming at us" with no warning.

The disturbance resulted in about 100 arrests, on charges of failure to obey a lawful order, obstructing a public roadway and interference, Jefferson County sheriff's officials said.

Three hours after the confrontation, officers continued to line sidewalks in the area in an attempt to get loiterers to leave.

"It would be nice if we could get people to disperse, but they're not committing a crime," said Jacki Kelley, a sheriff's office spokeswoman.

Earlier, officers led at least two people away as the crowd chanted "Let them go!" Some of the protesters threw bags containing a colored liquid at police.

Kaycee Ryann and Eric Finch said they were in the crowd marching through Civic Center Park, which lies between the City-County Building and the state Capitol, when police tried to split the crowd into smaller groups.

"There was no warning. We weren't coming at them. They were coming at us," Finch said.

AP Television News video showed one group of protesters counting down from 10 and then charging at police. They quickly retreated as police shoved them back. Some of the officers gripped their batons, one hand at either end, as they pushed the protesters back.

Finch said he was struck by rubber pellets and a baton.

Polly White of the Joint Information Center, a command set up by city, state and federal authorities to field media inquiries during the convention, said she had no reports of police firing rubber pellets.

A second spokeperson for the Joint Information Center, Lynn Kimbrough, said early Tuesday that preliminary reports showed that two officers used pepper spray and one officer shot pepper balls.

Ryann and Finch described themselves as anti-capitalists who were protesting ecological devastation. They said others in the crowd were protesting other issues.

Police formed lines to contain a large number of people at the scene while they questioned some, but everyone was allowed to go after about an hour.

It was believed to be the first time a police-protester confrontation turned physical and the first time officers used any kind of chemical spray since demonstrations began on Sunday, a day before the convention.

Ron Kovic, a paralyzed Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist who led a peaceful march the day before, hurried to the scene in his wheelchair from his downtown hotel after he heard about the confrontation.

"We must remain nonviolent. We must have the high moral ground," he told the crowd.

"There's a powerful police presence here. The chill of 1968 is in the air of Denver," said Kovic, whose story was chronicled in the book and movie "Born on the Fourth of July."

Earlier Monday, protesters chanting "Stop the torture, stop the war" marched from Civic Center Park to the federal courthouse complex.

Some wore jail-style orange jumpsuits and black hoods, like inmates at the infamous Abu Graib prison in Iraq.

At the courthouse complex, the crowd heard a recording by former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, imprisoned in the killing of a police officer 27 years ago in Philadelphia. Activists in the U.S. and Europe have rallied in Abu-Jamal's support, saying he is the victim of a racist criminal justice system.

"Here, democracy is on life support," Abu-Jamal said on the recording.

Elsewhere, about a half dozen men holding signs opposing homosexuality attracted a steady stream of people who wanted to argue on the pedestrian mall. The demonstrators were surrounded by police and bystanders, some snapping photos, temporarily blocking shuttle buses from passing.

Denver police said one man was arrested for keeping police away from another man they wanted to question. Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said the second man, who got away, had a bottle with a liquid inside that raised their suspicions.

At least eight other people were arrested across the city on Monday, including five detained about a mile southeast of the state Capitol. Four faced charges of disobeying a lawful order, two faced a trespassing charge and two faced false information charges.

A small group of protesters marched to the demonstration zone outside the Pepsi Center, where the convention will be held, complaining they are being treated like inmates.

Protesters derisively call the 47,000-square foot zone the "Freedom Cage." It's separated from the parking lot around the convention hall by metal fences atop concrete barriers.

They complained it's too far from the Pepsi Center entrance, but Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said it meets the legal requirement to be within sight and sound of the delegates.

"We're being treated by the city of Denver and the Secret Service like political prisoners, like pariahs," said Mark Cohen, an organizer of the Recreate 68 Alliance, a protest group.

A signup sheet for speakers at the protest zone had a number of fake signatures and comments such as, "J. Stalin -- This is awesome" and "G. Washington -- You can't cage freedom."

Associated Press Writers P. Solomon Banda and Catherine Tsai contributed to this report.

Additional Resources

• For complete coverage of the planning for the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver, as well as information about how to volunteer and for a list of helpful links, visit the Democratic National Convention section.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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