Just Because We're In A Cage Doesn't Mean We Aren't Free

I recently read with interest a story in the Rocky Mountain News that said that Denver law enforcement had done such a good job of policing the Democratic National Convention, that their approach would now be a guide and model for all future conventions.  Before we light our cigars and pat ourselves on the back, however, I think it is important that we hear the other side of the story.  This is my take on the new Denver model.

As I was covering police and protesters for KGNU last week, five questions kept coming to my mind.  By Tuesday night my answers to these questions led me to believe that Denver had developed a new model for policing large political conventions, gatherings and protests, and that this new model was indeed very successful.  Unfortunately, completely and totally successful.  Here are my five questions:

First, why did police keep such a large presence in Denver when it became clear by Sunday night that the number of protesters was vastly smaller than predicted?  The answer is that Denver's strategy was never proportional response, but shock and awe.  From the first day of the convention, Denver presented an overwhelming force of riot police, police on horseback, bike, and foot, as well as an awesome array of police cars, busses for mass arrests, swat tanks, and large SUV's to transport officers.  The clear intention was to show all weapons and forces in overwhelming numbers, sending the message to protester and populace that if anybody gets out of line, they will be crushed.  De-escalating forces to match the number of protesters would have short-circuited this plan of shock and awe.  All forces and weapons would be shown from beginning to end, no matter the number of protesters.  Shock and awe is the first pillar of the new Denver model.

Second, why were even small protest demonstrations surrounded by such large numbers of riot police?  Answer: The Denver model calls for constant intimidation of any group of protesters.  Here are two examples.  On Monday afternoon, in a playful and symbolic protest, about sixty protesters tried to magically levitate the Denver Mint, shaking out money for the poor.  Even though the Mint has heavily fortified walls, with a surrounding fence of sharp black spikes, well over a hundred riot police and police on horses completely surrounded this small protest.  Why so many?  Because police strategy was not to control this gathering, but to intimidate it.  Second example: On Wednesday afternoon a small protest began in Skyline park, which is actually two small plots of grass on both sides of the 16th street mall.  One person pounded a drum, while about fifty others clapped.  In the thirty seconds it took this tiny protest to cross the mall from one plot of grass to the other, at least sixty riot police, with many more on horse and bike, completely surrounded this hand clapping demonstration.  Why so many?  Because police strategy was not to control, but to thoroughly intimidate any demonstration, no matter how small.  Constant intimidation is the second pillar of the new Denver model.

Third question: why were there so many arrests on Monday night of convention week?  Answer: the Denver model calls for preemptive arrests of anyone suspected of plotting mischief.  Everybody knew that some groups were planning to disrupt delegate gatherings on Monday night.  These groups advertised their plans on web sites and hand outs, and they were openly discussing their plans in Civic Center Park on Monday afternoon.  When everybody started putting on bandanas, you knew the plot was afoot.  But before they could do anything, the police strategically corralled many between 15th and 16th streets, and then arrested them.  Arrested them not for plotting anything, but for the fabricated charge of failure to obey a police order.  Now, I completely understand that police have to act on reliable intelligence, and it is their job to prevent acts of violence and disruption.  But is it ethical or legal to arrest everybody before they barely leave the park?  On a bogus charge?  But here is the real problem.  It was not just those corralled that were arrested.   Anyone wearing a bandana that night was rounded up and arrested, even if they were alone, far from Civic Center, and doing nothing illegal.  If you suspect there might be problems, then preemptively arrest and sort it out later.  This is the third pillar of the new Denver Model.

Here is my fourth question:  why were fences put up in Civic Center Park for the Taste of Colorado a day and half earlier than usual, and why were air conditioners in the Steele street detention center turned up full blast twenty-four hours a day?  Answer: the new Denver model calls for harassment, whenever possible, of any protesters.  The fences in Civic Center Park didn't have to go up early Wednesday morning.  They could have gone up at six p.m. Wednesday when the protester's permit expired.  They could have gone up on Thursday afternoon like they always did in the past.  But by putting the fences up far earlier than ever, the city and police were sending a clear message to the protesters that we don't like you, and we are just barely tolerating you.  This is harassment.  Why was the air conditioner kept on full blast at the detention center?  When the protesters found out about the center, they complained that if the warehouse had been too hot to store voting machines in, how could you think about putting voters there?  So the police and city said, "you want air conditioning? We'll show you air conditioning."  So they froze the place, kept detainees there longer than the promised four hours, and then refused to give anyone blankets.  This is nothing but harassment.  Harassment of protesters is, without any doubt, the fourth pillar of the new Denver model. 

Here is my final question: why was the free speech zone, or freedom cage, kept so far from the Pepsi Center, with a large media tent preventing any view of the convention, with no access to delegates and with no water or toilet facilities?  Answer: the new Denver model calls for isolating protesters and demonstrators far from the convention center and far from any delegates.  In my opinion there may never have been a convention in American history where dissent and protest had less access to the delegates and to the convention center than this convention in Denver.  The free speech area was an insulting and ridiculous joke.  Nobody went there.  Many people I talked to couldn't even find it.  Some called it the dead zone, or a free speech deprivation tank.  If you tried to get near the Pepsi Center somewhere else, you couldn't.  The security perimeter was so far from the convention that there was no hope of being heard by a delegate.  Protesters could demonstrate in Civic Center Park, but that is a good two miles from the Pepsi Center.  What happened inside the convention was absolutely insulated from what happened in the streets.  This is because isolation of protesters and demonstrations is the fifth pillar of the new Denver model.

Shock and awe, constant intimidation, preemptive arrests, harassment, and isolation.  Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the new Denver model.

One last thought.  On Thursday afternoon I was in the freedom cage at Invesco Field, and the only people who showed up were the legalization of marijuana group.  By five o'clock only a handful of these youth were left, and they enjoyed the chance to safely curse out, for the only time in their lives, the two policemen who occasionally checked out the cage.  At one point about fifteen police officers on bikes rode into the cage, and they were promptly screamed at told to leave by the angry occupants.  "This is our cage," they joyfully shouted.  One young man yelled at the police, saying, "just because we're in a cage doesn't mean we aren't free."  Just because we're in a cage doesn't mean we aren't free.  What an amazing statement!  Was this young philosopher simply stating a fact?  Was he offering terms of surrender?  Or was he issuing a battle cry?  That is a really good question.  All I know is that for five days last week law enforcement completely locked down protest and dissent on the streets of Denver in an iron clad freedom cage.  

I just keep wondering, are we really free?

CoyoteJ