June 10, 2025 03:15 PM UTC

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

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• 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.