Not much time to blog folks, so please excuse my brief description of a complex situation.

Denver is a complete police state, and I say that without exaggeration. The sheer number of law enforcement officers is easily more than the amount of protesters. Due to the outright promise that protesters in Denver will be beaten, arrested, and locked up in a Gitmo-style warehouse, the numbers aren’t as large as expected. However, there seems to be a strong group of Anarchists who refuse to be intimidated.

Today we demonstrated on a blocked off route, but soon moved into streets which weren’t designated areas. We completely stopped traffic as we moved between honking cars and dance in intersections. Giving credit where credit is due, the police were actually pretty tolerant until we started blocking streets near the capitol building. Officers in riot gear, holding their batons and rubber bullet guns, moved in on us. Two people were singled out and arrested but we stood our ground.

After reinforcements moved in, there formed a solid line of officers and young adults, face to face. Luckily, no one was hurt and the crowds eventually dispersed on their own terms. Throughout the demonstration someone would ask: “whose streets?”; to which the crowd would yell: “our streets”. While some might dismiss the action as meaningless chaos, we showed the authorities that they were not as in charge of Denver as they thought they were. We brought a bit of democracy to an occupied town. No doubt, they were embarrassed from the encounter. Whether they’ll try to prove us wrong with stronger shows of force in the coming days remains to be seen. The national guard is on standby and half the helicopters I spotted today were military.

I did capture video of most of the confrontation, but won’t be able to edit and upload it until I’m back at my computer in two weeks. Until then, enjoy these still photos I took today and yesterday.

These cops were actually pretty cool for agreeing to stand in front of our inflatable Liberty Bell, even though the tall one was a Tancredo man.

McKinney/Ryce in 2012? Of course not. Who the fuck am I? Cynthia was really approachable and cool to talk with. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it.

M-1/Ryce in 2012? Dead Prez performed on the steps of the capitol building. No words can describe how awesome that was.