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June 10, 2025 03:15 PM UTC

Parker's Attempt To Shut Down "No Kings Day" Protest Backfires

  • 19 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As CBS4 Denver’s Olivia Young reports, among the hundreds of peaceful protests planned for “No Kings Day” this coming Saturday, which also happens to be the day of a massive military parade in Washington D.C. to celebrate President Donald Trump’s birthday the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, is a rally in the conservative southeast Denver metro suburb of Parker. And in Parker, town officials are doing their best to make sure Saturday’s protest is bigger than ever.

How, you ask? By trying to ban it, naturally!

This Saturday, June 14, hundreds of “No Kings” rallies are expected to take place across the country, including in Colorado, protesting authoritarianism and coinciding with President Trump’s birthday, the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday, and Flag Day.

But in Douglas County, one woman says the Town of Parker stopped her from organizing the event because it coincided with the Parker Days festival a half-mile away. Town officials cite safety as the reason the rally can’t occur at the same time as its largest festival, but organizers say it violates their free speech rights…

Which let’s be very clear, it does:

According to the ACLU, “you don’t need a permit to march in the streets or on sidewalks, as long as marchers don’t obstruct car or pedestrian traffic. If you don’t have a permit, police officers can ask you to move to the side of a street or sidewalk to let others pass or for safety reasons.” The organization also says, “police may not break up a gathering unless there is a clear and present danger of riot, disorder, interference with traffic, or other immediate threat to public safety.”

Nonetheless,

[Organizer Carolyn] Williamson says the town’s attorney and police chief called to say the rally would need to be canceled because the town didn’t have the resources to ensure its safety during Parker Days.

“I said, ‘well, what about our First Amendment rights?’ And they said, ‘Well, you’re welcome to say anything you want, but you cannot be on public sidewalks that day. [Pols emphasis] You can do it on another weekend,'” Williamson said. “I don’t think that they have the constitutional right to deny us the right to protest.”

As we understand it, Parker is trying to ban protesting on public sidewalks throughout town simply because of an unrelated event taking place in one small part of town some distance away. If that’s not an abuse of the government’s power to place some reasonable restrictions on a First Amendment activity, we won’t know what is. Obviously, moving the event to another day doesn’t work for a nationwide event taking place on the same day either.

But the biggest mistake Parker officials may have made here could be the negative publicity that comes with overstepping their bounds to suppress an anti-Trump protest in a conservative town. There will be significant numbers of No Kings Day protesters who will read this news story, and choose to protest in Parker instead of Denver or one of the other locations just to assert their constitutional rights where they are conspicuously unwanted.

For residents of Parker who truly didn’t want a fuss, just letting this nationwide protest happen was the best choice. Now because of the hamhandedness of the town government, Parker is now the target of protest on free speech grounds and against Donald Trump.

Way to put your best municipal foot forward, guys.

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19 thoughts on “Parker’s Attempt To Shut Down “No Kings Day” Protest Backfires”

  2. This entire post is misleading. The Parker Days Festival (I run the chamber and its foundation) is an annual event that draws more than 350,000 people to town. Keeping the festival safe requires a huge burden on both the Parker Police Department and the Douglas County Sheriff's department. It is entirely understandable that local public safety officials would not have the ability to provide adequate security for an additional event anywhere in the city. So, as a regular reader and fan of this site and the pod, I beg you to use some critical thinking here. This isn't political, it's a practical concern around public safety. Your takedown is misinformed.

    1. This is a parody, right? You can't tell people they can't protest on a public sidewalk. You can't make a whole town off limits to protest because of your one event.

      I'm sure the "Parker Days" are very important to you, but Parker is still part of America where the Constitution reigns supreme. Even after DougCo passes home rule…

      1. Let's get your facts straight, shall we? When an organization has paid many thousands of dollars for event permits, public safety expenses, and more, they absolutely can control activity in the permitted space including public streets and sidewalks in the permitted area. To the credit of the folks who put in for a permit, they understood this and put in their permit for a different place in Parker.

        2. I'm not an attorney … but do follow First Amendment coverage in the popular media and a bit more deeply. 

          Permitting undoubtedly allows the private group to determine who will be allowed to have activities within the boundaries of the permit. So, organizers of Parker Days permitted for "most of Downtown Parker" can certainly say the protesters are not invited for group actions there.  INDIVIDUAL actions, such as attending while wearing T-shirts or hats with slogans and mingling with other attendees probably can't be prohibited — it would be challenging to define and then enforce a content-neutral standard. 

          ACLU agrees

          Police and government officials are allowed to place certain nondiscriminatory and narrowly drawn "time, place and manner" restrictions on the exercise of First Amendment rights. Any such restrictions must apply to all speech regardless of its point of view.

          So, are all alternative activities on public property stopped for the entire weekend? Are there no scheduled Little League or soccer games in city parks or school grounds? Are there no weddings or quinceañeras taking place? 

          And even if Parker won't issue a permit, the ACLU has some guidance:

          If organizers have not obtained a permit, where can a march take place?
          If marchers stay on the sidewalks and obey traffic and pedestrian signals, their
          activity is constitutionally protected even without a permit. Marchers may be
          required to allow enough space on the sidewalk for normal pedestrian traffic and
          may not maliciously obstruct or detain passers-by.

           

          1. I am an attorney, and one who has litigated First Amendment claims.  Parker is in the wrong.  And I'd be happy to sue the town and collect my fees when I prevail. 

        3. So I could protest your pride day right? I mean Parker day can be protested? I just can't protest the president while you have your pride event. 

      2. You can't make a whole town off limits to protest because of your one event.

        Exactly so! In addition, shitboy's implication that there will be "more than 350,000 people" in Parker on Saturday from 10:00 – 12:00 when the No Kings protest takes place is an aggravated and egregious lie. That makes shitboy a liar who can and should be entirely disregarded. 

    2. Perhaps the Parker powers ought to offer a compromise … come demonstrate as PART of the Parker Days festival.  Don’t want to dilute police presence?  Put the protest in the same area. 

      Ask the protest leaders to figure out “Activities and Games” and Free Kids Crafts.  Encourage “Street Performers.” Surely, there can be someplace in “most of Downtown Parker” for civic participation. 

    3. OK, how many people do ytou think would have showed up for the No Kings Day protest had the permit just been approved? a few hundred? a thousand? what number did the permit ask "permission" for? so we are to believe that Parker has the resourses to police 350000 people but not 351000? really? and you are going to lecture us about critical thinking? 

      see you in Parker on Saturday. I'll happily drive the hour to put fascist enablers in their place.

    4. I think you're missing the point of the post.

      The Parker police chief and city attorney saying "Hey we don't have the resources to keep your protest safe" is entirely reasonable practical concern about public safety.

      But the Parker police chief and city attorney saying "but you cannot be on public sidewalks that day. You can do it on another weekend…" is unreasonable 

    5. “… 350,000 people to town …” ?!?!  

      Hahaha!!!   In Parker???  Some of us actually have been to, or have lived nearby, Parker (pop. 63,000 — 2024 est.) for years.  What, you count as Parker Days “attendee people” everyone (and their pets) who are even momentarily anywhere within the town limits, pass anywhere through those, or fly over those on their way to/from DIA, during any portion of each of those four 24-hour days???   (“Birds and bunny rabbits and prairie dogs are people, too”???)

      If that’s not just some seriously hyped-up bullshit MAGA counting and rounding math (e.g., pulled out of someone’s lying Boebert), then please feel do free to show your work?

      (Wondering now, TJ, if maybe you’re not somehow being remunerated on some kind of commission-per-head-counted basis?)

    6. Your comment is gobsmackingly stupid.  The First Amendment matters and the comment by town officials that "you cannot be on public sidewalks that day," is a clear First Amendment violation.  Saying that I can't be on a public sidewalk in advance of my engaging in First Amendment activity on said sidewalk is an effort at a prior restraint on free speech–a huge First Amendment no no.  So perhaps you should learn a little First Amendment law before you stick your neck out in an area where you are clearly underinformed. 

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