Arrests, tear gas hit war protest in Colorado Springs
Peaceful event ends in chaos; 34 held
By Eileen Kelley
Special to The Denver Post
Sunday, February 16, 2003 - COLORADO SPRINGS - Police used tear gas to
disperse dozens of protesters who blocked major intersections toward the
end of an otherwise peaceful anti-war rally at Palmer Park on Saturday.
Post / K.S. Osler
Colorado Springs police arrest a man Saturday after he refused to leave an
area near Peterson Air Force Base.
Tear gas was thrown into the street after a group of self-proclaimed
anarchists rushed from the rally - attended by an estimated 3,000 to 4,000
people - and blocked motorists at Maizeland and Academy roads.
Two people were taken to a hospital - one because of tear gas and the other
after getting shocked with a stun gun. One rubberized bullet was fired. One
protester threw a tear-gas canister back at police. Thirteen people were
arrested.
A second rally at nearby Peterson Air Force Base ended with 21 arrests but
no tear gas.
The Colorado Springs events were among about 150 protests held across the
nation Saturday.
Around the world - including in the capitals of many of America's
traditional allies - similar rallies drew millions of people in protest of
possible U.S. military action against Iraq.
"Let's go in the road," screamed K'yla Nute, 15, of Colorado Springs as she
raced after the group of several dozen young anarchists at the Palmer Park
event who tried to conceal their identities with bandanas.
On several occasions, police blocked off a mile-long stretch of Academy
Boulevard to motorists.
Lt. Skip Arms, a spokesman for the Colorado Springs Police Department,
said, "I think the officers used great deal of restraint given the lack of
compliance" by protesters with orders to disperse from the street.
"It was the intent of the Colorado Springs Police Department to monitor
this rally with the lowest level of police presence possible and only show
an increased presence if the protesters engaged in criminal behavior," Arms
said.
But a Denver spokesman for CopWatch, a group that monitors police conduct
on the streets, said police overreacted.
"CopWatch believes the situation was under control; the use of tear gas by
the police on peaceful demonstrators was unwarranted and the arrests
unnecessary," spokesman Steve Nash said. The group called for an
independent investigation of police conduct.
A few miles up the road, 21 people were arrested at Peterson Air Force Base
- 10 for being on Peterson property and 11 for failing to vacate a nearby
strip mall when police told them to.
Police said they were prepared for a disturbance at Peterson because nine
adults and a 12-year- old boy had announced they would try to get arrested
by crossing onto federal property.
But more were taken into custody for trespassing, resisting arrest and
failure to disperse at the Saturday rallies, Arms said.
"I just think it is really important to do," 12-year-old Gabriel Balogh of
Fort Collins said moments before he, his mother and eight others headed for
the line that, once crossed, would get them arrested.
"The war is coming up so fast, and this seems like the only way to stop
it," he said.
As Gabriel and the others lined up to cross onto federal property, 100
people stood about 40 feet back and sang "We Shall Overcome."
Facing the protesters were 10 members of the Peterson military police and
about a dozen officers from the Colorado Springs Police Department.
The planned arrests were uneventful. But all of that changed within 10
minutes when members of the Police Department put on gas masks and began
arresting others for not leaving the area.
"Leave or you'll be arrested," an officer shouted at a group of reporters
covering the event.
At least three people who were standing in doorways of nearby restaurants
were arrested. "I have no idea why," said one man as he was hauled off by
police.
At Palmer Park, Nute said she did not know who the loosely organized group
of anarchists was but was in support of their anti-war efforts.
"It is just a different tactic," said a 21-year-old member of the group who
refused to give his name. "These tactics are used all over the world. The
only place it isn't common is in the United States."
The young man said he didn't see the group's role as bad for the peace
movement. But not everyone agreed.
"Everything was great until just now. Now they are endangering innocent
citizens," said Colorado Springs police officer P.J. Mahoney after the
group rushed the street at 1 p.m.
Colorado Springs was selected for the statewide rally by the Colorado
Coalition Against War in Iraq because of its heavy military presence.
"I am deeply impressed by where we are today and what we are doing today. I
am seeing people from all over the world and in whatever time zone coming
together," 71-year-old Vincent Harding of Denver, a member of the Veterans
for Hope Project, said earlier in the day.
"Colorado Springs is kind of a code word for great military capacity for
the world," he said.
Don Grubb, 69, and his wife, Anne, 68, said they came from Howard to
protest the Bush administration's insistence that military action is needed
to disarm Iraq.
Both said it was strange to find themselves among so many young protesters.
But the event was especially strange for Don, who for years as a police
officer was assigned to work the anti-war rallies in Los Angeles and Denver.
"This is the first time we've done anything like this, but we feel very
strongly that this is not right," Don Grubb said. "If war is ever right,
this one certainly isn't."
A rally in support of freeing Iraq from Saddam Hussein is scheduled for
1:30 p.m. today at the state Capitol in Denver.
*************************************************************
ok, so what they really don't say, which is probabaly the most important
thing to note is: after the police had moved in on the RTS at constitution,
there were a chunk of arrests and some pepper spray. A lot of people
started incircling the police and chanting "let them go!" and just overall
getting more and more daring--arrest atempts were met with some fucking
really melee-like unarrests.
finally the riot-cops start showing up and giving orders to disperse.
earlier, some of our affinity group is all split up and we think everythign
is about to end--the energy seems low, but when the riot-cops show up,
everyone got so energized and all the 'peace is patriotic' chants turned to
"fuck off pigs!" "you mother fuckers...etc" and all of sudden 2 fucking
thousand of us, radicals and green party, liberals alike are marching into
upcomming traffic--completely taking over 2 way, 4 lane each way,
mini-highway called N. academy. infact as they noted, we shut the fucker
down. it was so fucking empowering--like when you look arround and the only
cops are way in back of you and everyone's either chanting all 'radical'
chants or smiling and talking...sheer beauty.
and then when we actually got back to the park, probabaly about a mile 1/2
away, that's when the cops tear gassed( and when they say they gassed
"dozens", that actually means thousands). where they gassed, i might add,
was litterally just a couple yards away from homes, so some of the folk
that livedin the neighborhood were out observing and just taking in the
fucking crazy war going on in their neighborhood...they chased people into
the park and attacked people who were being treated by medics--a lot of
arests were made that way infact.
this was an extraordinary day, to say the least.
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/stories.php?story=03/02/16/8379401
