Officers and protesters clashed Friday night in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood outside a police department precinct, with pepper balls and tear gas used against the crowd, a department spokesperson confirmed.
The chaos came after hours of peaceful rallies and marches around the city honoring the 57th anniversary of the historic March on Washington.
After dark a group of a couple hundred marched to the 6th District police precinct on North Washington Street near Colfax Avenue, where protesters proceeded to shake a chain fence and yell at police, said participant Jess Wiederholt.
Officers then fired pepper balls and tear gas in response to what police spokeswoman Ana Munoz said was an attempt by protesters to break through the fence around the precinct.
“I was on the front line with an umbrella against the fence, and all the folks were doing was shaking the fence,” Wiederholt said, disputing the characterization that people were trying to tear it down and get to the building. “I saw no violence besides shaking and screaming. That’s what prompted them to shoot.”
Wiederholt said she woke up this morning with a large welt on her thigh from the pepper balls.
“This might be the worst I’ve experienced,” she said. “They went at it strong. For not being violent, it was harsh.”
Counter-protesters also showed up Friday night, and Munoz said the group dispersed after police told them to leave.
In audio captured by a Denverite photographer from the scene, a man identified by the news organization as a Denver police lieutenant can be heard telling the opposition group: “We appreciate you coming here and giving us support” before asking them to leave.
“We really want you guys to just disengage and go back to your cars and call it a night because we don’t want to have to take enforcement action on you guys,” the lieutenant said.
Munoz said she hadn’t heard the audio but didn’t dispute that an officer could have said something along those lines.
“Our number one goal is to diffuse situations peacefully,” she said. “We don’t support any of the groups — we just respect everybody’s voice if they want to be there.”
But protesters say police kettled their rally directly into the opposition group.
“When you go head to head with white supremacists, and when they have weapons, you run the other direction,” Wiederholt said.
The protesters and counter-protesters never had much interaction, Wiederholt and Munoz said, as both groups dispersed.
There were no injuries or arrests, Munoz said, and the only damage came to the chain fence.
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