Documentation of the amount of police used to violate our Human Rights
At the 12 second mark you can see a officer pepperspray the people gathered in the park
Law enforcement assaulting large a large peaceful political assembly.
Law enforcement attacking a group peacefully assembling.
View in front of Thunderdome, which was legally operating on the sidewalk. Not in the park.
Denver Police Officer 05024 pointing a gun which is lethal from that range, background woman being bludgeoned by law enforcement.
Officers of the state, again pointing weapons at people peacefully assembling.
JT Sexton being choked after being handcuffed
The continued brutalization of JT Sexton by a unidentifiable member of law enforcement
JT pleading for help after being brutalized by law enforcement
Cleaning off pepper spray
Once again, shameless violence is used by the state to illegally enforce municipal codes over our human rights. Law enforcement informed the people assembling of their violation of city ordinance 39-7 and warned that they must disperse and leave the park or risk being arrested for unlawful activity on a city park. Although everyone in the park was simply exercising their political opinion and taking part in civic life at Civic Center Park. The state was using selective and illegally enforced laws to criminalize everyone’s political opinion regardless if they were accused of violating DRMC 39-7. Instead of ticketing the individuals who set up the tents, of which I was one, law enforcement used indiscriminate violence to practice crowd control and attack a peaceful assembly. Not one person was charged with either violation of city ordinance 39-7. Law enforcement had no legal authority to close Civic Center Park, just as the governor had no legal authority to close Lincoln Park, as doing such violates people’s human right to assemble. Yet everyone, save another false charge by law enforcement, was charged with failure to obey a lawful order. Although the only lawful order given was to comply with city ordinance 39-7, and no one was charged with violating that law.
I was serving food in the Thunderdome as law enforcement violently approached to enforce city ordinance 39-7. The Thunderdome was again on the sidewalk not in the park or near the tents thus complying with the law. Around the 9 min 10 second mark of this video, you clearly see where park is demarcated from the sidewalk with the concrete barrier between the park and sidewalk. The Thunderdome was legally on the sidewalk, yet again law enforcement illegally destroyed the Thunderdome and for the third time stole and destroyed the food we were using to feed the masses. After the riot line formed by law enforcement destroyed the Thunderdome it went on corralling people from the sidewalk in to the park forcing everyone in to a situation where they would be at risk of being arrested by law enforcement illegally enforcing the law. During political assemblies law enforcement always corral people and force them in to places where law enforcement can mass charge and mass arrest people for a crime, such as failure to obey a lawful order, created on the spot by law enforcement. This template is well practiced by law enforcement across the nation.
Obstructing highway or other passageway, one of the crimes officers charged people exercising their political opinion and legally sitting on the sidewalk in front of the Thunderdome on October 15th 2011. Yet during this illegal operation Oct 29th, law enforcement closed the exact same street around the same time to exclusively enforce a municipal code violation no worse the the one the state was violation by blocking Broadway. Yet, on October 29 no law enforcement officer was cited, let alone arrested and jailed, for this violation. This bears repeating. Law enforcement broke a law by blocking Broadway to violently assault a group of people taking part in a peaceful political assembly, based on an alleged violation of municipal code violation no worse than the one law enforcement was breaking.
The state illegally uses force so people accede to their will and if they cannot force compliance then the state will present false charges and charges tailored to favor the state, in order to justify state use of force. This unrepentant use of violence and targeting with false charges people is a common tactic as can be see with the focused state repression of myself, JT Sexton and Caryn Sodaro, Amelia Nicol and others. Unfortunately this type of persecution is not unique to this assembly or time but are the across the board policies of the Governments of the United States of America.
Official statement were made which raises more questions as to the legalities of law enforcement entering the park. The stated reason law enforcement entered the park was to enforce DRMC 39-7, which no one was ever charged with. However, the state says they were using crowd control techniques which by the very name means targeting and controlling group of people. The state illegally repressed a peaceful political assembly using crowd control tactics in order to disperse people legally expressing their political opinion. Law enforcement then talks in terms of targeting, and shooting of people who are directly targeted. The below statement was made to justify the illegal actions of the state and publicly discredit and criminalize people exercising their human rights.
"It's important to note that our types of crowd control are targeted directly at the people who are causing problems," Murray says. "We don't just shoot a can of mace like the old days and catch a bunch of people along with the person who actually needs to be maced. We don't just spray the entire crowd like that. With new technology, we can specifically target an offender without harming anyone else. We're very reactive, and we're trying to be prepared."
I was serving food in the Thunderdome as law enforcement violently approached to enforce city ordinance 39-7. The Thunderdome was again on the sidewalk not in the park or near the tents thus complying with the law. Around the 9 min 10 second mark of this video, you clearly see where park is demarcated from the sidewalk with the concrete barrier between the park and sidewalk. The Thunderdome was legally on the sidewalk, yet again law enforcement illegally destroyed the Thunderdome and for the third time stole and destroyed the food we were using to feed the masses. After the riot line formed by law enforcement destroyed the Thunderdome it went on corralling people from the sidewalk in to the park forcing everyone in to a situation where they would be at risk of being arrested by law enforcement illegally enforcing the law. During political assemblies law enforcement always corral people and force them in to places where law enforcement can mass charge and mass arrest people for a crime, such as failure to obey a lawful order, created on the spot by law enforcement. This template is well practiced by law enforcement across the nation.
Obstructing highway or other passageway, one of the crimes officers charged people exercising their political opinion and legally sitting on the sidewalk in front of the Thunderdome on October 15th 2011. Yet during this illegal operation Oct 29th, law enforcement closed the exact same street around the same time to exclusively enforce a municipal code violation no worse the the one the state was violation by blocking Broadway. Yet, on October 29 no law enforcement officer was cited, let alone arrested and jailed, for this violation. This bears repeating. Law enforcement broke a law by blocking Broadway to violently assault a group of people taking part in a peaceful political assembly, based on an alleged violation of municipal code violation no worse than the one law enforcement was breaking.
The state illegally uses force so people accede to their will and if they cannot force compliance then the state will present false charges and charges tailored to favor the state, in order to justify state use of force. This unrepentant use of violence and targeting with false charges people is a common tactic as can be see with the focused state repression of myself, JT Sexton and Caryn Sodaro, Amelia Nicol and others. Unfortunately this type of persecution is not unique to this assembly or time but are the across the board policies of the Governments of the United States of America.
Official statement were made which raises more questions as to the legalities of law enforcement entering the park. The stated reason law enforcement entered the park was to enforce DRMC 39-7, which no one was ever charged with. However, the state says they were using crowd control techniques which by the very name means targeting and controlling group of people. The state illegally repressed a peaceful political assembly using crowd control tactics in order to disperse people legally expressing their political opinion. Law enforcement then talks in terms of targeting, and shooting of people who are directly targeted. The below statement was made to justify the illegal actions of the state and publicly discredit and criminalize people exercising their human rights.
"It's important to note that our types of crowd control are targeted directly at the people who are causing problems," Murray says. "We don't just shoot a can of mace like the old days and catch a bunch of people along with the person who actually needs to be maced. We don't just spray the entire crowd like that. With new technology, we can specifically target an offender without harming anyone else. We're very reactive, and we're trying to be prepared."
The statements made by a senior law enforcement officer are fully contradicted by the video and reports of this day as well as previous and subsequent days. One report from Kelsey Whipple, a blogger for the Westword, a free local weekly newspaper covering the assembly details how law enforcement indiscriminately attacked the crowd.
“At about 3:30 p.m., the first round of violent interaction occurred on the side of the park opposite the tents. Officers moved in on the gathering with pepper bullet guns already out and pointed -- an increase in aggression compared to the beginnings of previous demonstrations. As protesters grouped to shout chants at the cops and form a barrier between the officers and the camp, police opened fire on the group and openly sprayed tear gas at any occupiers standing in the way. One protester, Andrew Cleres, was shot from a tree with an entire round of pepper bullets while taking photos of the scene.”
Neither Phillip Becarra, who was shot in the face, or Andrew Cleres, who was also shot, were ever charged with a crime despite the violence inflicted on him. Philip is one of many people shot in the face by the state because they were expressing their political opinion. Emmi Einstein was pepper sprayed and beaten with a baton by a law enforcement officer whom she identified by the badge #05100. I too was struck with batons and maced by law enforcement for the second time in two weeks. I was maced shortly after law enforcement destroyed the Thunderdome and corralled people in to the park. I was assaulted with riot batons when I went over record the badge numbers of the officers cuffing and choking my friend JT Sexton. There are countless accounts, video and photographs, which clearly show how misleading Sgt. Murry statements are, such as Philip Becarra’s account of the events that day.
“Becerra was injured on his face and neck during the afternoon's first outbreak away from the tents. Another protester was injured when a police motorcycle rolled over his foot. "They pepper sprayed me and I fell and then went to pour water on my face," says Becerra, who returned to the area later in the night. "When I got back up, I was shot in the face. I had to go to the hospital to have the wound treated.”
There are many cases in Denver of law enforcement and the criminal justice system lying to cover up for the criminal activity of law enforcement. There are also many cases that go unreported so the true depth of the violation of peoples human rights will never be known.
The American Civil Liberties Union also took note and commented that the state used violence to repress people’s human rights.
"I'm particularly concerned about the practice of shooting pepper-ball guns into a crowd of people who are exercising their First Amendment rights.” says Mark Silverstein, legal director of the Colorado ACLU.
The illegal force used by the state on October 29th is a continuation of the repressive policies always used by the Governments of the United States of America against political opinion. State repression unrelenting increased in the following days.
On October 31 the city and county of Denver discussed a proposed bill which will criminalize homelessness and further violate people’s human rights to assemble and express political opinions. When I and others attempted to participate directly in government by going to a city council meeting, law enforcement denied us access to the city and county building. At this point the state used 21 police cars continually monitored Occupy Denver.
These event put me in fear for my life and liberty. As such I am unwilling and unable to avail myself of the protection of the Governments of the United States of America.
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