Palmer Park, Colorado Springs, Feb. 15, 2003

This is a cut of some tape shot by the Activist's Media Project in Denver and loaned to me by Doug Johnson and Make Fearer. This is only the part that happened in Palmer Park, when the CSPD was the only police force in America to use tear gas on it's citizens when 11 million poeple worldwide marched against the coming Iraq War.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• iraq
• war
• antiwar
• protest
• demonstration
• rally
• peace
• colorado
• csaction
• police
• brutality

[runmile22]

What is not shown here is how the "peaceful" protesters attempted to block one of the Springs' busiest intersections at the beginning of the afternoon rush (check the time stamp of the camera near the end of the clip). The protesters were told to move from the street and refused. At that point, the CSPD did what it was supposed to do and protect the public order.

[CSaction]

Impressive. You joined YouTube 39 minutes ago just to comment on this video? You must be from the GAGzette blog. Welcome. You're missing some critical facts. It was a Saturday, no rush hour. A small group tried to go to block the street down by Constitution, away from the rally, and were denied egress, so came back and did, unfortunately, block Academy.

[runmile22]

I did not say it was rush hour. I check my facts, and know full well that it was a weekend. I lived in Colorado Springs for 18 years before heading off for college and I know that, weekend or weekday, that particular stretch of Academy Blvd. is incredibly busy, therefore the statement "afternoon rush."

[CSaction]

We were not aware of it, and tried our best to remove them from the street. All this after advertising the rally as lawful and peaceful. OUR protest was hijacked, and the police, who lost all cases in court, punished everyone present.

[phyco126]

Ha, I remember watching this on the news when I was in High School in Fountain. Some class mates of mine claimed they threw rocks at police, but honestly you can't trust a bunch of kids who want their claim to fame and look 'badass'.

[Insect0man]

Charley Mike, CSPD, Charley Mike!

[tonytonytee]

cspd .. the new gestapo of colorado.

[delquattro]

Too bad the anti-war liberals don't acknowledge that congress abdicated their constitutional authority to "Declare war" and define the mandate of the war. The fact is liberals like to impose American force for other reasons not related to America's security. Neo-cons use American force to create chaos around the world. The answer: force congress to declare war, not delegate their authority to the neo-con fascists and socialists in congress.

[runmile22]

Point given. It WAS unfortunate that a display of free speech rights was rudely turned into a situation where police needed to act. However, at that point, police needed to maintain order by disbanding ALL that was going on since there was little to no way to tell at that point who was who. I just think, since this video is tagged "police brutality" and is found easily when searching "Colorado Springs," people should know both sides of the story so that they develop fair opinions of what went on

[sonapraj]

Now is year 2007.

Where are the weapons of must destruction?

So who was right?

The people from one side or the government and government media form other?