Just in time for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, a new city is coming to Denver, representatives for Re-create 68 and other anti-war activists announced Wednesday afternoon at Civic Center.
The founding of “Free City,” as the four activists renamed the park, is the protesters’ rejection of a new permitting process the city established to dole out centrally located parks during the convention.
Simply put, Free City means that the protesters will ignore all new and existing rules and try to take over the park night and day from Aug. 24, the Sunday before the convention begins, throughout the convention, which runs Aug. 25-28.
The activists produced a sky-blue sign with the words FREE CITY in white. Yellow tuliplike flowers that bloomed in the shape of fists brightened the borders. Within seconds of the four’s attempt to hammer the sign into the ground, wind blew it over.
“We hope that everybody respects the laws that are on the books of the city and county of Denver,” Denver Police Department spokesman Sonny Jackson said. Jackson declined to say how police might enforce those laws.
Last month, in a blind lottery, R-68 and its affiliates won permits to use the park on Aug. 25 and 27, a Monday and Wednesday. By camping in the park after curfew, Free City also will be in violation of city rules that forbid overnight stays.
R-68’s Glenn Spagnuolo last month angrily charged that Denver officials were “creating a very dangerous situation” when they awarded a permit for the park — as part of the same blind lottery that gave R-68 its permits — for the Sunday to a party planner for the city’s convention host committee. On Wednesday, Spagnuolo said Free City would be free of violence.
And if police try to enforce the rules? Spagnuolo said Free City’s occupants wouldn’t leave.
Chuck Plunkett: 303-954-1333 or cplunkett@denverpost.com
