162 lines
9.4 KiB
Markdown
162 lines
9.4 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: >-
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Denver Protests
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description: >-
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Craziness
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---
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# Saturday, May 30th
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We went to the May 30th protest at Civic Center Park. We were there for a few
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hours during the day, leaving around 4pm. I would describe the character of the
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protest as being energetic, angry, but contained. A huge crowd moved in and
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around civic center, chanting and being rowdy, but clearly was being led.
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After a last hurrah at the pavilion it seemed that the organized event was
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"over". We stayed a while longer, and eventually headed back home. I don't feel
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that people really left the park at the same time we did; mostly everyone just
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dispersed around the park and found somewhere to keep hanging out.
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Tonight there has been an 8pm curfew. The police lined up on the north side of
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the park, armored and clearly ready for action. We watched all of this on the
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live news stations, gritting our teeth through the comentary of their reporters.
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As the police stood there, the clock counting down to 8, the protesters grew
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more and more irritated. They taunted the police, and formed a line of their
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own. The braver (or more dramatic) protesters walked around in the no-man's land
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between them, occasionally earning themselves some teargas.
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The police began pushing forward just before 8 a little, but began pushing in
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earnest just after 8, after the howling. They would advance, wait, advance, wait
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again. An armada of police cars, ambulance, and fire trucks followed the line as
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it advanced.
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The police did not give the protesters anywhere to go except into Capital Hill,
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southeast of Civic Center Park. We watched as a huge crowd marched past the
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front of our house, chanting their call and response: "What's his name?" "GEORGE
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FLOYD". The feeling wasn't of violence still, just anger. Indignant at a curfew
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aimed at quelling a movement, the protesters simply kept moving. The police were
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never far behind.
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We sat on our front stoop with our neighbors and watched the night unfold. I
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don't think a single person in our building or the buildings to the left and
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right of us hadn't gone to protest today in some capacity. We came back from our
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various outings and sat out front, watching the crowds and patrolling up and
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down the street to keep tabs on things.
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Around 9pm the fires started. We saw them on the news, and in person. They were
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generally dumpster fires, generally placed such that they were away from
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buildings, clearly being done more to be annoying than to accomplish anything
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specific. A very large set of fires was started a block south of us, in the
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middle of the street. The fire department was there within a few minutes to put
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those out, before moving on.
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From the corner of my eye, sitting back on the stoop, I noticed our neighbors
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running into their backyard. We ran after them, and they told us there was a
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dumpster fire in our alley. They were running with fire extinguishers, and we
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ran inside to grab some of our own. By the time we got to the backyard the fire
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was only smouldering, and the fire department was coming down the alley. We
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scurried back into the backyard. A few minutes later I peeked my head around the
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corner, into the alley, to see what happening. I was greeted by at least two
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police in riot gear, guarding the dumpster as the fire department worked. They
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saw me but didn't move, and I quickly retreated back to the yard.
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Talking to our neighbor later we found out she had seen a group of about 10
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people back there, and watched them jump the fence into another backyard in
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order to escape the alley. She thinks they, or some subset of them, started the
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fire. She looked one in the eye, she says, and didn't get the impression they
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were trying to cause damage, just to make a statement.
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The fires stopped not long after that, it seems. We're pretty sure the fire
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trucks were just driving up and down the main roads, looking into alleys and
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stopping all fires they could find. In all this time the police didn't do much.
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They would hold a line, but never chase anyone. Even now, as I write this around
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midnight, people are still out, meandering around in small groups, and police
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are present but not really doing anything.
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It's hard to get a good view of everything though. All we have is livestreams on
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youtube to go on at this point. There's a couple intrepid amateur reporters out
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there, getting into the crowds and streaming events as they happen. Right now
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we're watching people moving down Lincoln towards Civic Center Park, some of
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them trying to smash windows of buildings as they go.
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The violence of these protests is going to be the major story of tonight, I know
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that already. That I know of there's been 3 police injured, some broken
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windows, and quite a bit of graffiti. I do believe the the tactic of pushing
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everyone into Cap Hill had the desired effect of reducing looting (again, as far
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as I can tell so far), but at that expense of those who live here who have to
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endure latent tear gas, dumpster fires, and sirens all through the night.
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Even now, at midnight, from what I can see from my porch and from these live
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streams, the protesters are not violent. At worst they are guilty of a lot of
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loitering. The graffiti, the smashed windows, the injured officers, all of these
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things will be held up as examples of the anarchy and violence inherent to the
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protesters. But I don't think that's an honest picture. The vast, vast majority
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of those out right now are civily disobeying an unjust curfew, trying to keep
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the energy of the movement alive.
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My thoughts about these things are complicated. When turning a corner on the
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street I'm far more afraid to see the police than to see other protesters. The
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fires have been annoying, and stupid, and unhelpful, but were never threatening.
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The violence is stupid, though I don't shed many tears for a looted Chili's or
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Papa Johns. The police have actually shown more restraint than I expected in all
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of this, though funneling the protest into a residential neighborhood was an
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incredibly stupid move. Could the protesters not have just stayed in the park?
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Yes, the park would likely have been turned into an encampment, but it was
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already heading into that direction due to Covid-19. Overall, this night didn't
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need to be so hard, but Denver handled this well.
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But, it's only 1am, and the night has a long way to go. Things could still get
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worse. Even now I'm watching people trying to break into the supreme court
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building. Civic Center Park appears to be very populated again, and the police
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are very present there again. It's possible I may eat my words.
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# Monday, June 1st
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Yesterday was quite a bit more tame than the craziness Saturday. I woke up
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Sunday morning feeling antsy, and rode my bike around to see the damage. I had a
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long conversation with a homeless man named Gary in Civic Center Park. He was
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pissed, and had a lot to say about the "suburban kids" destroying the park he
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and many others live in, causing it to be shut down and tear gassed. The
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protesters saw it as a game, according to him, but it was life and death for the
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homeless; three of his guys got beat up in the street, and neither police nor
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protesters stopped it.
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Many people had shown up to the park early to help clean it up. Apart from the
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graffiti, which was also in the process of being cleaned, it was hard to tell
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anything had actually happened. Gary had some words about them as well, that
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they were only there for the gram and some pats on the back, but once they left
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his life would be back as it was. I could feel that, but I also appreciated that
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people were cognizant that damage was being done and were willing to do
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something about it.
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I rode around 16th street mall, down colfax, and back up 13th, looking to see if
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anything had happened. For the most part there was no damage, save the graffiti.
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A mediterranean restaurant got its windows smashed, as well as the Office Depot.
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The restaurant was unfortunate, Office Depot will be ok.
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The protest yesterday was much more peaceful. The cops were nowhere to be found
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when curfew hit, but did eventually show up when the protest moved down Colfax.
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They had lined the streets around their precinct building there, but for the
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most part the protesters just kept walking. This is when the "violence" started.
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The cops moved into the street, forming a line across Colfax behind the
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protesters. Police cars and vans started moving. As the protest turned back,
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presumably to head back to the capitol lawn, it ran into the riot line.
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Predictably, everyone scattered. The cat-and-mouse game had begun, which meant
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dumpster fires, broken windows, tear gas, and all the rest. Watching the whole
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thing it was extremely clear to us, though not the news casters, unfortunately,
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that if the police hadn't moved out into Colfax nothing would have ever
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happened. Instead, the news casters lamented that people were bringing things
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like helmets, gas masks, traffic cones, shields, etc... and so were clearly not there
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"for the right reasons".
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The thing that the news casters couldn't seem to grasp was that the police
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attempting to control these situations are what are catalyzing them in the first
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place. These are protests _against_ the police, they cannot take place under the
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terms the police choose. If the police were not here setting terms, but instead
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working with the peaceful protesters (the vast, vast majority) to quell the
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violence, no one would be here with helmets, gas masks, traffic cones,
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shields... But instead the protesters feel they need to protect themselves in
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order to be heard, and the police feel they have to exercise their power to
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maintain control, and so the situation degrades.
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