A two-hour Occupy Denver march by at least 2,000 protesters through downtown was peaceful today — but, four hours later, lines of police in riot gear cleared the parks in the heart of Denver.
Officers began making arrests at about 6:20 p.m.
Officers in riot gear first cleared Lincoln Park and then formed long lines along Broadway and across the middle of the intersection of Broadway and East 14th Avenue.
Across from them, in Civic Center park, were about one hundred remaining protesters — more than one dozen sat with linked arms.
Some screamed at the police and shouted “shame” at the officers.
Police finally moved forward and began to make arrests. Some protesters just walked away while others were taken into custody.
Sam Ashbach got up from the street and chose not to get arrested.
“This is not about us vs the police,” he said. “Getting arrested makes it about us. They are part of the 99 percent just as much. “
Catherine Keffer, who said she is part of the legal team for Occupy Denver, said at least 10, maybe 20 people were arrested. There was no confirmation on numbers from Denver police.
Protesters who were legally on sidewalks along Colfax Avenue were not arrested.
Most protesters had left after the march ended at about 2 p.m., but a small group of demonstrators blocked Broadway and tensions rose after a dining tent was pitched in the corner of Civic Center park.
After 5:30 p.m., police took the first step and cleared the former site of the Occupy Denver camp in Lincoln Park near the veteran memorial obelisk, the same park police had cleared in the wee hours of Friday morning.
Denver police had been hoping for a peaceful outcome.
“Of coarse we are hoping for a peaceful resolution, but the people here need to understand that we need to have these lanes of traffic open,” said Detective John White, a spokesman with the Denver Police Department.
The mood had grown tenser in mid-afternoon when the Occupy Denver dining tent, known as the Thunderdome, was set up on the southwest corner of Civic Center park near East 14th Avenue.
A large group of demonstrators moved toward a police van to defend the tent, but some demonstrators asked those taunting police to step back.
“We have no reason to confront the Denver Police Department. They are not our masters.”
Officers lined up on 14th Avenue, where some protesters are shouting at them.
Those protesters inched closer to police as they chanted “We are peaceful!”
The sharp smell of vinegar filled the air. Volunteers are soaking rags and T-shirts in vinegar as a precaution against tear gas later.
A protester who maintains that he is “not a leader” and identified himself as Law Johnston, asked the crowd to discuss if they wanted to take the tents down.
“If we do not take the tents down DPD is going to roll in here,” he said. “This is a different beast then the state police we dealt with Thursday.”
Johnston said he was in favor of removing the tents down and staying within the law. The crowd had mixed reactions.
Either way everyone agreed taking the tents down would “lose the fight.”
Some protesters turned on one another.
One man was pushed into a bicycle wheel during a scuffle.
Some have sat down in the intersection of 14th and Broadway; others continue to warn that staying is not good strategy.
Richard Klassen, 23 of Longmont, was among those arrested Friday morning.
Klassen admits to taunting authorities on Friday and said he had no hard feelings toward authorities.
Klassen does not think the tent should come down willingly and says he would be willing to get arrested again.
“As long as we stick together and out number the police they will not move in,” Klassen said. “Fractions are staring to form, people look around and wonder what’s going on. That’s when the numbers dwindle and people move in
Earlier, at 1:30 p.m., the marchers were on 17th Street, stopping to rally outside some of the city’s largest high-rise banks. At 1 p.m., the crowd had gathered outside the Federal Reserve Bank.
As the marchers moved through downtown, their numbers grew as some passersby decided to join, some coming out of restaurants to join the stream of people as they moved west on the 16th Street and, later, east down 17th Street.
The crowd grew too large for the sidewalks on 17th Street and began to spill into the street.
While it is technically illegal for them to be in the street without a permit, police officers were calm and said they have a good rapport with the group today.
The front of the line marched behind a large American flag chanting “whose streets, our streets” to the beat of a drum beat.
At 17th and Champa streets, protesters dressed in orange tape and orange vest, who identified themselves as marshals for the march, worked to keep some of the protesters from trying to go south on Champa and away from police security.
Some of the marchers waved Tea Party flags, others signs with economic statistics or denouncing corporate greed.
This is the second march Allison Pederson has attended with her two daughters, 19 and 20 years old.
“The public is sick of it,” Pederson said. “If you think what you can do is get out here and show them that, then get out here.”
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the sign-carrying crowd began peacefully marching north on Broadway after a noon gathering near the Capitol.
The marchers then began to head down the 16th Street Mall toward the Federal Reserve Bank, being monitored by police.
The crowd began chanting “We Are the 99 Percent,” before switching to “You Are the 99 percent!”
About 3:30 a.m. Friday, after numerous warnings, state troopers and Denver police officers had cleared the park making 23 arrests, all on misdemeanor charges of unlawful conduct on public property, or failing to obey a lawful order. One was for impeding traffic.
None of those arrested were considered part of the original Occupy Denver demonstration, which started in late September.
The park was closed all day Friday but the State Patrol reopened it at 11 a.m. today, stressing that there was to be no camping and the park is only open between 5 a.m. and 11 p.m. daily.
Before the march, a growing crowd gathered at the park near the Capitol, cheering as cars passing down Broadway honk in support.
“I’m sick of what’s going on,” said Jeanie Dedmon, who joined the protest for the first time today. “This is to show a people strength and a people who just aren’t going to take it anymore.”
This is the first protest 62-year-old Dedmon has joined since the 1970s, she said.
