Demonstrators massed peacefully at Colorado’s Capitol before marching downtown Sunday, the fourth day of protests in Denver against law enforcement in the wake of George Floyd‘s death in Minneapolis — a killing by police that has sparked a national conflagration.
The protest swelled to at least 1,000 people Sunday afternoon, with groups at times standing outside the Capitol building chanting “Don’t shoot!” and “I can’t breathe!” — echoing the words of both Floyd and Eric Garner, who died after a New York City police officer put him in a choke hold in 2014.
Around 12:30 p.m., a few police officers arrived at the Capitol in an armored SWAT vehicle and a marked van. They carried “less lethal” weapons and were met by shouting protesters. The officers, clad in riot gear, left after a few minutes.
Other officers stayed largely out-of-sight during the daytime protest and marches. Some stood on a balcony at the Capitol and others stopped traffic for the marchers as they moved through Denver.
At 8 p.m., when Denver’s emergency curfew went into effect, hundreds of people remained outside the Capitol. Denver police sent loud alerts to residents’ cellphones across the city, and tweeted that people needed to go home or risk arrest. But by 8:15 p.m., they had taken no action to disperse the crowd — in stark contrast to Saturday evening, when officers had begun deploying tear gas several hours before curfew.
Shortly after that, masses of protesters began marching away from the Capitol east on Colfax Avenue.
8 p.m. howl. Someone shouts, "Protect your eyes!" pic.twitter.com/KeR7AMkg5J
— Shelly Bradbury (@ShellyBradbury) June 1, 2020
Earlier in the afternoon Sunday, demonstrators gathered in Civic Center Park, chanting and rallying. Some shouted obscenities at Mayor Michael Hancock and police Chief Paul Pazen, who were holding a news conference nearby. The city officials ignored the jeers.
Pazen and Hancock pleaded for peace, continuing to suggest that the violence that broke out over the previous three nights can be blamed on a small number of agitators.
Police arrested 83 people on charges they violated the curfew, which is in effect again from 8 p.m. Sunday to 5 a.m. Monday. Those arrested were publicly identified, but city officials continue to allege the violence largely is being spurred by outsiders — though they have not provided specific evidence.
Hancock, in an appearance on CNN on Sunday morning, said police have “intercepted, quite frankly, groups that are coming into Denver. We have confiscated weapons including assault weapons that were headed to the demonstrations.”
“You don’t show up at peaceful demonstrations with assault weapons, handguns, baseball bats, golf (clubs) and flash-bang bottles with the intent of being peaceful,” Hancock said during the interview.
The mayor said some of the peaceful demonstrators who’d gathered earlier in the day Saturday stuck around and were “caught up in the crossfire, the provocation of law enforcement” after night fell.
The crowd has stopped and is laying down at the Denver Performing Arts Complex pic.twitter.com/nT55GySq46
— Shelly Bradbury (@ShellyBradbury) May 31, 2020
Jason Dunn, the U.S. attorney for Colorado, announced Sunday that his office will work with the Federal Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate any potential violations of the law connected to the protest activity in Denver.
“The last few days have seen protests in Denver hijacked by criminal elements, who have turned these protests into violent riots in our own communities,” Dunn said in a prepared statement.
Pazen on Sunday again defended his officers’ use of tear gas, pepper balls and other “less lethal” forms of ammunition on demonstrators.
“Active aggression is that threshold to use tear gas,” Pazen said, citing the department’s use-of-force guidelines. “And somebody throwing rocks, a few agitators throwing rocks, individuals that hide under the veil of peaceful protest and create criminal and assaultive behavior, must be addressed.”
But many of the demonstrators, including Emily Graham, have been sharply critical of Denver police, saying officers’ use of chemical agents often has been unprovoked. Graham said she’s been out with the marchers for several days and has been shot by projectiles and gassed. She said the worst she’s seen protesters do is throw plastic water bottles at officers.
“I think there’s a big difference between harming bodies and harming property,” she said of the vandalism at the Capitol and downtown. “I think that the police presence in full riot gear and throwing tear gas is more violent than a little spray paint.
“This is peaceful protesting and it’s met all around the country with violence. Unprovoked violence from the police. That’s exactly why we’re here.”
Maya Johnson, who said she knew Elijah McClain, the 23-year-old who died after a struggle with Aurora police last year, echoed Graham’s perspective, saying events on Saturday escalated due to the police, not the demonstrators.
“It was a peaceful rally until the other side became the aggressor towards the protesters,” she said. “It started as something peaceful and no one was fighting.”
On Saturday night, Denver police officers in riot gear fired tear gas, flash-bangs, pepper balls and sponge bullets at hundreds of protesters who ignored the city’s 8 p.m. emergency curfew, announced by the mayor earlier in the day after two prior nights of protest and violence.
Gov. Jared Polis called in the Colorado National Guard to help enforce the curfew. National Guard officials said about 100 troops had been requested at nine sites in Denver.
“For those who helped us maintain peace, protect lives and preserve property here in our city, let me state loud and clear that the Denver Police Department values the lives of our residents and are working hard to maintain the peace and safety for all,” Pazen said. “And when I say all, I mean every community member and every police officer.”
As the news conference ended around 3 p.m., a large crowd marched out to Speer Boulevard to the call-and-response chant of “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” Once they reached the Denver Center for Performing Arts, many protesters got down on their stomachs with their hands behind their backs and chanted “I can’t breathe!” for nine minutes in honor of Floyd.
Protester Esther Okanlawon said she brought her 6-year-old daughter to Sunday’s protest to show her how to make change. She’s talked to her daughter about racism several times.
“We tell her that unfortunately people are going to treat her differently because of the color of her skin,” Okanlawon, who is black, said.
Chauncey Session, 30, said she has never been to a protest before, but wanted to be a part of this one.
“It’s history,” she said. “Kids get shot for no reason by the police and it’s been going on for years.”
Chants begin pic.twitter.com/t2UDyqyhZl
— Shelly Bradbury (@ShellyBradbury) May 31, 2020
Throughout the day, some people around the Capitol picked up trash from earlier protests while city crews and volunteers tried to scrub off graffiti. Profane spray-painted messages were still visible on the outer walls of many city buildings. One bit of graffiti said, “All pigs go to hell.”
Amanda Sendero and Garrett Teal were among the volunteers helping with the cleanup. They participated in the protest Saturday night and came back Sunday wearing masks and latex gloves as they put trash into bags, saying it was a way to show they care about the city where they live.
“I do not want people to see all this destruction and junk and think this is the way,” said Teal, who recently moved to Denver from Florida.
Another woman who scrubbed graffiti off the Capitol building, Reilley Bray, said she’d marched with the protesters for two days but on Sunday decided to remove graffiti instead. She scrubbed away spray paint that read “Kill them all.”
“The violent aggression that comes in the evenings is destroying the Capitol and the city I love,” she said, adding that there is a marked difference between the peaceful daytime protests and the violence that happens after dark.
As elsewhere around the country, the protests in Denver were spurred by the death of Floyd on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis police officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck and pinned him to the ground for nearly nine minutes while the man pleaded that he could not breathe.
That officer has been charged with third-degree murder.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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