DENVER—Anti-abortion activists tucked 500 roses into the security fence surrounding Denver’s Pepsi Center in a protest-prayer vigil to urge the Democratic Party and Barack Obama to outlaw abortion.
Using a bullhorn, the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, also denounced the city for its security arrangements for the Democratic National Convention. The convention begins Monday.
Mahoney said he had been assured by City Attorney David Fine that, despite a new security perimeter erected the night before, protesters in Saturday’s “Prayer for Change” event would be able to get within about 30 yards of the Pepsi Center. The closest they could get was about 100 yards.
A message left at Fine’s office wasn’t immediately returned. However, the city provided a copy of an e-mailed letter, dated July 23, in which Fine told Mahoney the sidewalk closest to the Pepsi Center would be closed to the public but that Mahoney would have the same access to sidewalks outside the security fence as the rest of the public.
Denver police spokesman Lt. Ron Saunier said Mahoney, like other protesters with permits, had been assigned a police liaison in case of problems, but Mahoney didn’t contact that officer. Saunier said Mahoney had also canceled a meeting with police Friday because of a scheduling conflict. Mahoney and police planned to meet Sunday instead, Saunier said.
Instead of laying roses on the ground near the Pepsi Center as planned, Mahoney instructed the approximately 100 participants—most of them in their teens and 20s—to stick the roses into the security fence, made of a metal mesh resembling the material used in lawn furniture.
“This is a sign of the crushing of the First Amendment, which I happen to think is tragic,” said Mahoney, standing on a sidewalk between the fence and two city dump trucks blocking a center entrance to traffic.
The event attracted a handful of counter-protesters from a group called the World Can’t Wait. They held signs with slogans such as, “Life begins when you stand up to Christian fascists.”
The only thing both groups seemed to agree on was criticism of the heavy security. Law enforcement officers dressed in black fatigues swooped in when someone denounced Christians for trying to impose their views on the world. They led away one counterprotester, Aaron Minkoff, 17, of San Jose, Calif., who was wearing a bandanna over most of his face.
Uniformed police surrounded the officers questioning Minkoff to block the view of protesters and reporters. They let him go about five minutes later.
Minkoff, who said he was affiliated with the World Can’t Wait, said police searched his backpack without his permission. He said he didn’t have identification and that police let him go with a warning to make sure he carried ID.
Mahoney said the security fence did give him a new protest idea: He said his group would seek donations of flowers and return to the site each day to turn the fence into what he called a memorial to victims of abortion.
Metropolitan State College student Brandi Silva stopped by to see the protest while checking out the DNC site. An Obama backer, she said there was a difference between supporting abortion rights and being pro-abortion. She said she would like to see more money—starting with funding for the Iraq war—spent to help women who can’t afford to have children.
Protester Brandi Lozier, 24, of Baton Rouge, La. distributed a flyer describing how she says she survived an attempted abortion by her mother. Lozier said she was raised by her late aunt and has no contact with her mother.
She said she was angry that Obama had voted against restrictions on what opponents call “born alive” abortions. Obama says he opposed such measures as an Illinois state senator because of technical language that might have interfered with a woman’s right to choose, and because state law already required medical care in such situations.
“He needs to come to my face and tell me I’m not a person. Then the cops will have a reason to be here because he doesn’t have that right,” Lozier said.
Earlier Saturday, Mahoney and other abortion activists gathered outside a Planned Parenthood headquarters. Prayer for Change members also plan to do sidewalk chalk drawings and street theater events outside delegate hotels and restaurants during the DNC.
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Associated Press writer P. Solomon Banda contributed to this report.
