Fenced Civic Center draws criticism

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/27/fenced-civic-center-draws-criticisml/

DENVER CIVIC CENTER -- Protesters and other folk who planned to spend the day at Civic Center Park were surprised this morning to see the park surrounded with a 6-foot-chain link fence.

Although the official word is that it's for the Taste of Colorado, people said it looks more like an attempt at crowd control.

"What's this?" Storm Waters, an environmental activist, said as he came to the park to distribute flyers on global warming and his group Rising Tide.

"I'm being told this is for the Taste of Colorado, but if you want to know the truth, I think it has more to do with police control of protesters. Something's fishy here."

Keith McHenry, of Food Not Bombs, said he understood the set-up for the festival doesn't usually start this early.

"I think it's a little suspicious," said McHenry, of Taos, N.M. "We've been told this always gets started on Thursday, but for some reason , after all these years, they did this today. Why?"

"My concern is that it's all an orchestration to try to diminish the visibility and effectiveness of the peace movement," he said. "It's social manipulation."

McHenry and others said it appeared police wanted to keep protesters from having easy access to the 16th Street Mall.

Several people said the fence made the park look like an extension of Gitmo on the Platte, the detention facility at 38th and Steele streets.

"That's the impression you get when you see the chain link fence," said Steve Laudeman who was manning a table of literature for Friends of Sabeel Colorado.

"It's my recollection that they've always started this late Thursday, never this early," he said. "That's ridiculous."

"Every hundred years the convention comes to Denver. Couldn't the city let us have some room for free speech before marketing moves in? I love the Taste of Colorado, but that's mainly what it is, a marketing tool."

Two women walked up to the Sabeel table, expressing their dismay at "Fortress Civic Center."

"I've been here in the park off and on all week and it's been so peaceful," said Iris Keltz. "It's kinda scary. It kind of took my breath away."

She said the fenced park gives an ironic balance to attempts to control protesters.

"Here we're fenced out and at Pepsi Center, we're fenced in."