Denver Police Attack Protest Against Police Brutality

Anonymous Police Brutality Protest/#Every5th/@AnarchoAnon

MEDIA ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: anarchoanon@riseup.net / @AnarchoAnon

Denver 4/5---Police in Denver violently attacked a protest march against police brutality on the Downtown 16th street mall a few minutes after it began at 5:30 pm.  An estimated 7 arrests took place, with police violently tackling individuals in the crowd and  spraying pepper spray at protesters and bystanders.  A witness said that several of those arrested were passers-by who were not involved in the protest.  This protest, called by the informal net-based group known as "Anonymous," was part of the "Every 5th" event series, in which protesters have gathered downtown on the 5th of every month to protest various issues since November 5, 2013.  This particular march was planned in solidarity with recent protests over a police killing of a homeless man in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with an eye to similar ongoing police brutality issues in Denver.

One participant  said: "There was about 70 of us at the march.  We peacefully marched from Civic Center Park to the 16th st mall, our usual march route.  As soon as we turned off the mall, police officers violently tackled individuals, swung clubs at others, and sprayed clouds of pepper spray at the crowd.  They then formed a line and took out rubber bullet guns, and continued to try to antagonize the crowd.  The crowd grew larger as pedestrians became alarmed by the aggressive behavior of the Denver Police Department.  There were also numerous military-style vehicles present with SWAT officers riding on the outside.  This seems to be a deliberately intimidating response in which DPD is trying to send a strong message the citizens of their city that the police will not tolerate people speaking out against police brutality.  Despite the police violence, our march continued successfully for several hours, snaking through city streets, denouncing police brutality with chants and fliers.  This sort of behavior by the police really only serves to promote our protest, and as we saw today, it actually encourages people to join us."


Video of some of the arrests: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUeXBG1E0W4
Archived livestream footage clips from march: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/anarcho-anon

Twitter handles with details from the event: @anarchoanon @standupdenver @mcsole @occupydenver @internerve

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