| As the Rocky Mountain News reports, it ain't easy:
Vows that protesters would "party in the streets" during next summer's Democratic National Convention were met with a stern rebuke from a Denver city councilman Monday night.
"The police department will not roll over for any radical group," Denver Councilman Charlie Brown said at a council meeting. "No group will dictate police tactics."
At issue was a proclamation proposed by Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie that would have called on police to respect demonstrators' rights at the convention. The Recreate 68 Alliance, which is organizing the protests, met recently with police officials to discuss how Denver would deal with demonstrations.
MacKenzie said she is withdrawing the proclamation, pending further discussion among council members at a public safety committee meeting July 11. She said she wanted to be sure that the council did everything it could to ensure that the encounters between police and protesters at the convention were peaceful.
Our view: Councilwoman Kathleen MacKenzie is perfectly justified in trying to negotiate a less-violent encounter with these protest groups, but so is Councilman Charlie Brown for holding that the city has no obligation--and a major disincentive--to restrict Denver police's use of any legal means of riot control during the Democratic National Convention.
Law enforcement types are quick to point out that the many protest groups who will self-converge on Denver next August will lack any kind of effective command and control (that's the point with anarchists as we understand it), making it doubtful that they would be able to keep their end of such a bargain anyway.
A poll follows. |
