Thursday, June 19, 2008

City issues DNC parade permits

The News:

Every group that wanted to have a parade during the Democratic National Convention will.

And every parade will end "within walking distance" of the Pepsi Center — but nobody knows yet exactly where that will be.

The protesters will mostly be young. The young can walk great distances.

The "public viewing area" will be in Lot A and is expected to be occupied by demonstrators. The city had earlier committed to establishing that area within "sight and sound" of the Pepsi Center.

The parade route, however, may not end within "sight and sound" of the arena, Cobb said.

In all, the city awarded parade permits to seven groups, who have planned a total of 12 parades.

The protest group Recreate 68 got a slot for a parade each day.

Weird. Not a word about who else got permits. How many are R!68 front groups?

The exact route has been a point of contention — protesters wanted to pass close by the Pepsi Center, with a chance to be seen and heard by convention delegates.

"I think there's a lot of delegates that will see people parading," Cobb said.

So far, the city has made public only part of the route, beginning in Civic Center, traveling west on Colfax Avenue, then north on Speer Boulevard. At the intersection of Speer and Larimer Street, the route stops — for now.

Cobb said the final ending point will be determined in the coming weeks.

The city also has announced that parades will be allowed only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Although the first parade will be scheduled to start each day at 11, the times for those following it won't be firmly established.

"It will depend each day on the size of the parades," Cobb said.

Most delegates will begin arriving at the Pepsi Center around 3 p.m., with events scheduled to begin each day at 4 p.m., DNC officials have said. . . .

Nothing in the Post yet . . .

Update: Mike Rosen hides his feelings about Recreate-68: "Hard-core parade of fools":
Free speech? Let them write a letter to the editor, or a book or take out an ad. It's no secret what these would-be revolutionaries believe in. The icon of a raised fist on their Web site accompanies the menu of daily protest themes, with each one focusing "on a symptom of the disease of an Imperialist, Capitalist, Racist system." Glen Spagnuolo, Marxist revolutionary-in-chief, describes his group as representing minorities, anarchists, communists, socialists and radicals. He expects 25,000 people from across the country to join his Denver protest. So what? Whom do they represent? And why should anyone else care? . . . Even if it were a hundred times that number, what would it matter? So what if a hard-core band of "anarchists, communists and radicals" takes to the streets to indulge their rage and self-disenfranchisement. Why in the world should such tantrums affect any rational citizen's fundamental beliefs or positions on important issues?

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