Masses of peaceful demonstrators took to Denver’s streets Thursday evening on foot and in vehicles, with downtown marchers supplemented by a miles-long car caravan on this eighth straight day of activism in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In Denver as elsewhere across the nation, protesters continued to sound the alarm for racial justice and the need for law-enforcement reform following the death of another black man at the hands of police.
Activities kicked off in late afternoon at Civic Center Park with a “youth education” event that featured young speakers, including 8-year-old Mac Vasquez, addressing the crowd.
“I think people, I just, I don’t know why this is happening,” she said. “Because it’s just how they look. It’s just their skin. Really on the inside, they’re as nice, kind and unique as us.”
Across town around the Shorter Community AME Church, a couple hundred people gathered, gearing up for a parade of protest vehicles. Part of the idea behind the caravan was to allow proper COVID-19 social distancing while still demonstrating — participants safely in their cars instead of marching shoulder-to-shoulder.
Fatima Thibou, 46, said this was the first time she’s ever been to a protest. She said two weeks ago, she was followed by a car while jogging in her Littleton neighborhood. “Because I’m black in Littleton, I’m being followed?”
Thibou said her eyes have been opened in the last few weeks. “And I feel like I can’t close them,” she said.
Line stretches at least a mile, probably more. Twitter won’t let me post my full video of the line, so this is a snippet of a snippet of the crowd. pic.twitter.com/LbrurA7Jhg
— Elise Schmelzer (@EliseSchmelzer) June 5, 2020
The protest vehicles at one point were packed tight along a 2 1/2-mile stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, from Colorado Boulevard to Quebec Street, with many more cars stretched out in line. People could be seen standing on the sides of the street, fists in the air.
“I just want to have a voice,” said Michael Carter, one of the participants. “Mess up some traffic, if that gets the message across.”
Downtown, the demonstrators around the Capitol and in Civic Center Park headed west on Colfax Avenue to Speer Boulevard, where they stopped traffic and marched up the usually-busy thoroughfare, a crowd that stretched blocks.
Obviously a very different feel from past nights, when Denver Police deployed tear gas and less lethal projectiles around this time pic.twitter.com/gxWIeVLLqc
— Shelly Bradbury (@ShellyBradbury) June 5, 2020
The protesters gathered on the large field outside the Auraria Campus’s Tivoli Student Union for what has become one of the signature moments of these demonstrations: hundreds of people lied face-down on the grass, their arms behind their backs, for nine minutes of silence — symbolizing the length of time a now-former Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck before he died.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser addressed the crowd, telling The Denver Post afterward that the response to Floyd’s death feels different, more energetic than the movements that followed previous police killings of black men and women.
“This is extraordinary,” he said. “We dream about getting young people engaged in a cause.”
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Similarly, marcher Alexis Ward said she feels the outrage and momentum in these protests is unlike anything she has seen in her lifetime. She thinks the video of Floyd’s death is part of the reason why.
“It gets shown, the wrong, the ugly, but it’s the truth,” she said.
She brought her 17-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son with her Thursday night, saying, “I’m tired of being in fear for their lives.”
Thursday evening’s demonstrations, which moved back to the Capitol and Civic Center Park, continued the clam and peaceful note that’s been struck the last few nights in Denver. The demonstrations late last week and over the weekend, and even into Monday night, were confrontational, and saw some crime and vandalism — each night ending in clouds of police tear gas and barrages of pepper balls.
Beginning Tuesday and continuing Wednesday, Denver police stepped back, allowing the protests to continue well past the 9 p.m. emergency curfew that, unless extended, was in its final night Thursday. The demonstrations proceeded peacefully those nights without the clashes with police that marred earlier marches.
On a warm Thursday evening, marchers were even met by Denver police officers distributing cases of bottled water.
As the 9 p.m. curfew approached, the youth-oriented gathering in Civic Center Park broke up, with families, children and young activists heading home. But there were at least three large protests Thursday night, and a different group returned to the Capitol about a half hour after curfew.
Someone brought along a projecter that beamed messages — “By Any Means Necessary,” “Black Lives Matter, “We Will Not Be Silent” and obscenities directed at President Donald Trump and the police — onto the front facade of the Capitol.
And then a large group of people began marching again.
“Show me what democracy looks like!” one demonstrator shouted “This is what democracy looks like!” the crowd roared back.
Around 10 p.m., police responded to a shooting in the area of Broadway and Colfax Avenue, but said it was likely unrelated to the protests. As detectives investigated the crime scene nearby, demonstrators maintained their vigil in front of the Capitol.