A-Infos (en) US, Denver, Media, No DNC*, Final Day of DNC: Small, But Determined, Protesters Continue With Anti-War Message

Obama-mania has reached its height on the streets of Denver and outside Invesco 
Field, where Senator Obama plans to deliver his highly anticipated acceptance 
speech to 70,000 plus supporters. ----- Although it paled in comparison to the 
spirited 7,000-strong anti-war march yesterday**, that didn’t deter a small 
group of anti-war demonstrators from trying to get their message across to 
Democratic delegates and supporters of Senator Obama. ----- Some Obama 
supporters had no clue that a protest was scheduled, and at one point, were in 
the mix of the protest. ----- At 3 PM (CT), the march stepped off from Lincoln 
Park, on West 12th Ave. and Mariposa St. There were around 80 demonstrators in 
total at the permitted march, which was behind a slightly larger pro-marijuana 
march on the same route. Some protesters thought that people had already left 
Denver to travel to St. Paul, Minneapolis, where the Republic National 
Convention will be held next week.

“What are we marching for? Stop the torture, stop the war!” was a popular chant 
for members of the anti-war group World Can’t Wait as it attempted to persuade 
Obama supporters into taking their signature orange armbands and anti-war flyers.

The police presence, in comparison to other days at the DNC, was small. There 
were no arrests, and no tense standoffs.

“What we’re hoping for is to have some kind of contact with the 75,000 people 
who are going in there to hear Obama,” says Mark Cohen, a co-founder of ReCreate 
’68, one of the main groups that have organized protests throughout the week 
against the Democrats. He added that the purpose of the march was to make 
delegates aware that people “care about ending the occupation not in 16 months, 
not in ten years, but now.”

There was some back-and-forth between the World Can’t Wait contingent, and the 
smaller anti-authoritarian and anarchist bloc, about the latter’s use of Muqtada 
al-Sadr, the powerful Shi’a cleric in Iraq, on a banner, as well as chants that 
seemed to celebrate Ho Chi Minh.

“I don’t believe [Obama’s message of change]…[he is] just more of the same 
stuff,” says Brendan Dunn, a member of the Olympia, Washington chapter of 
Students for a Democratic Society*.

The march lasted for a little over an hour, but tapered off when it reached a 
police line in front of the long lines of people waiting to get into Invesco Field.

The police wouldn’t allow members of World Can’t Wait to take their 
demonstration inside, so instead the activists went back along the march route 
to promote their anti-war message.

---------------------------------


** Police Block Veterans’ Access to DNC in Largest Protest to Date

DENVER, Colo.—A little more than an hour before Sen. Barack Obama made a 
surprise appearance at Pepsi Center to conclude the evening at the Democratic 
National Convention, his campaign had an exchange with Iraq Veterans Against the 
War (IVAW).

Approximately 100 IVAW members were determined to push Obama on his stance on 
troop withdrawal. Leading a grueling three-hour-plus long march of an estimated 
7,000 demonstrators towards the Pepsi Center late in the afternoon, IVAW hoped 
to deliver a folded flag and a letter calling on Obama to endorse the three main 
goals of unity: immediate withdrawal of American troops, full veterans benefits, 
and reparations for the Iraqi people.

The march was met with a line of more than 100 Denver Police Department officers 
clad in riot gear and armed with batons and pepper ball guns at the intersection 
of Market and 17th Streets. The police refused to let IVAW or the thousands of 
antiwar demonstrators closer to the convention. After long moments of contention 
between the demonstration and the police, finally one IVAW representative, 
former U.S. Marine Liam Madden, was allowed to cross police lines to meet with 
representatives of the Obama campaign.

As Madden left on his mission, it seemed as if more than 50 IVAW members were 
prepared to engage in non-violent civil disobedience and likely arrest. Less 
than 10 minutes later, at approximately 7:40pm (CT), an announcement was made by 
IVAW to the crowd, indicating that Obama had endorsed their three points of 
unity, causing the crowd to uproar in applause.

Some veterans were visibly emotional by the end of the march. In a highly 
stirring and symbolic moment, members of IVAW gave a peace salute towards the 
direction of the Pepsi Center. There was then a moment of silence for casualties 
of the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Sen. Obama, we won’t forget this,” said Jeff Engelhart, IVAW member who served 
in Baquba, Iraq, with the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division, to the crowd via 
microphone and loud speakers. He went on to indicate that if Sen. Obama did not 
make good on his endorsement, more antiwar protests would come.

But there seemed to be some disconnect between the protesters and Madden’s 
conversation with the Obama campaign.

IVAW’s statement that the Obama campaign endorsed their points of unity could 
not be confirmed. The endorsement seems to be at odds with the Obama campaign’s 
stated positions on troop withdrawal, which involve a gradual and phased 
withdrawal of combat troops, with a residual force to stay in Iraq for the time 
being.

Local news stations have not confirmed the claim that Obama endorsed the three 
points of unity. Instead, both the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post are 
reporting that a meeting has been planned between IVAW and Obama’s liaison for 
veterans’ affairs.

Members of IVAW expressed pessimism of the Democrats as an antiwar party, noting 
that although they were elected in 2006 with an antiwar message, they have 
continually funded the wars.

“I really don’t feel [Obama] is the antiwar candidate,” said U.S. Army 
Specialist Sean Valdez, a new member of IVAW who served two tours of duty in 
Iraq. “It’s so hard. You hear what he says and you want to believe it, but how 
many times have we been disappointed before this?”

“We’re here as veterans, as soldiers, as marines, here to demand that the 
Democratic Party uphold to the front that they have as an antiwar party, and 
actually make a stand, and bring our soldiers home now,” said 31-year-old 
Adrienne Kinnie, a member of IVAW who served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves 
from 1994 to 2004.

In a juxtaposition that is becoming familiar in Denver, two worlds seemly 
unconnected are living side-by-side, only streets apart — the polished 
Democratic showcase and the simultaneous protests in the parks and streets where 
the voices of ordinary people remain unheard by the Democratic dynasty.

While Sen. John Kerry addressed delegates about the Iraq War and veteran issues, 
outside the convention thousands of demonstrators were demanding that the 
Democrats take a firmer stance on ending the war and providing better treatment 
to U.S. military personnel and veterans. There was no mention of the large 
demonstration or the concerns of IVAW during the convention presentation inside 
Pepsi Center, although most of the speeches given throughout the night touched 
on the Iraq War and the military.

The Denver Police Department riot officers, looking as menacing as ever with 
their fingers on the triggers of their pepper ball guns, failed to corral the 
demonstrators into the so-called designed “free speech zone,” located near 7th 
Street and Walnut Street, earlier in the afternoon when it left the Denver 
Coliseum after a Rage Against the Machine concert.

----------------------------

Responses to “Police Block Veterans’ Access to DNC in Largest Protest to Date”
nogo war Says:

I was proud to be a part of this large demonstration of non-violence. Approx 
6000 were in the first part. Between band sets including RATM there were 
instructions concerning non-violent protest.
We did not have a permit..
At the end there were at least 50 IVAW who were ready to commit non-violent CD. 
About 30 yards behind them over 200 hundred of us were ready to do the same in 
support. We had their backs. The majority in this group were under 30 and for 
many this was their first non-violent action let alone CD.
There was relief and joy when our joint efforts paid off with no violence, or 
arrests.
I don’t think Denver or the DNC wanted Iraq Vets arrested.
Truly amazing.
At least on this night, non-violence, and not the police were the authority..

Peace/Dance/Resist non-violently,
Drew
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