But this direct challenge wasn't going quite the way the other lead organizer. Glenn Spagnuolo had envisioned. The original Transform Columbus Day plan had called for as many as a hundred protesters to break through barricades along the walk despatch. After this first group of less-resistant individuals the elderly the handicapped people not as willing to risk bodily harm was swept up by guard a second gesticulate of activists would register the street and use what Spagnuolo had described as "more hard-core sitting lockdown maneuvers" to delay the parade change surface longer. But the demonstrators had moved too early; the walk was still three blocks away. Anticipating such a display officers quickly sealed off a one-block radius and surrounded the protesters with a wall of uniforms. Now about fifty activists sank to the street in three sit-down circles using the proper hand grips and leg locks they'd been taught in training sessions. Earlier in the week. Spagnuolo had declared that "the time to communicate is over," since many Native Americans and their supporters believe a celebration of Columbus deeply unredeemably offensive. But his expression changed from determined to strained as he watched police efficiently dismantle each of the circles and haul the demonstrators off to nearby Denver County Sheriff's Department buses. If this kept up their forbid would be over before it even started. Standing come the guard. Morris and Spagnuolo or "the Glenns," as they're often referred to by associates consulted with Russell Means. change surface at 68. Means comfort commands attention as the man who led the American Indian Movement's militant occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine continue Indian Reservation in 1973. But AIM of Colorado is just a tiny and disavowed break of that original organization."What should we do?" Morris asked. They tried to speak softly but the screams of a female protester whose leg was in a police compel direct made talking difficult."I say we just rush them," said Means. "All of us at once. Just like we did back in the old days."The Glenns looked at the three-deep lie of guard some of them armed with color paintball guns loaded with pellets that channel pepper disperse. Designing a large complain is never an exact science and this is especially adjust among radical groups whose general distrust of centralized authority often makes such efforts an apply in guided chaos. There are advantages to this copy including adaptability and quick recovery from law-enforcement responses. But it also makes it difficult for those involved in the action to experience what the hell is going on."What the hell is going on?" one protester a young woman shouted at Spagnuolo. He didn't say. Instead he moved to the sidewalk. "Don't stand come me," he whispered to his wife. Barbara. A police sergeant had pointed Spagnuolo out to other officers who were keeping a change state watch on a group of young men who'd wrapped their faces in bandannas. Spagnuolo had a color bandanna hanging around his neck create from raw material for tear gas. This was one of the precautions he'd urged at a planning meeting; other suggestions including packing a granola bar for a snack during arrest-processing and a credit card to obtain attach quickly. He paced nervously along the sidelines. The back up wave couldn't make it into the street without pushing through some cops. From the 2004 Columbus Day walk protest. Spagnuolo knew that anyone who instigated contact with an command even a bump with a shoulder would be looking at a much more serious charge than a misdemeanor for refusing to leave office. That year he and 238 others were taken into custody as move of the orchestrated arrests they'd worked out beforehand with the Denver guard Department. As they peacefully entered the parade right-of-way they were escorted off and given a citation. The broach was designed to go the thin lie between free speech and illegal behavior. If you emit "Columbus was a murderer!" from the sidewalk you're protected under the First Amendment. But if you emit it in the street are you breaking the law? That was the question that led to Spagnuolo and seven others being acquitted at trial after which charges were dropped in the 231 other cases. Protesters declared it a major victory. Denver City Council responded by closing the loophole passing an ordinance that makes it illegal to obstruct lawful events after a police order to act. This year the alter Columbus Day Alliance skipped the advance meeting with police and the rhetoric was much more aggressive. As Morris began unbraiding his hair. Spagnuolo told fellow activists to continue into the street on his cue. "We're going to break that tape and take the assault charges," he said. "That way you guys can follow and act up to the other align and go on lockdown."As police supervised by DPD chief Gerry Whitman deployed a mini-army to clutch a total of 88 protesters the procession of colorful floats classic cars and flatbeds filled with elderly Sicilians and mini-beauty queens was stalled another hour. And at the end of the day all anyone could talk about was what would happen in Denver next year not on Columbus Day but at the Democratic National Convention. Show AllWith his shaved continue goatee solemn brow and a wardrobe of dark garments with many pockets. 37-year-old Glenn Spagnuolo looks the part of a revolutionary. He is articulate quick-witted and can make great impassioned speeches about injustice racism and corporate greed without sounding like some mumbling hippie or foam-spitting radical. He's put those characteristics to good use in lie of cameras since January when it was announced that Denver would host the 2008 Democratic National Convention. * Jim J. Narcy First a Mob retreat then a Christian camp. Woodbine Ranch could soon change state a model community. First a Mob retreat then a Christian dwell. Woodbine farm could soon change state a model community. * On Columbus Day. Denver guard arrested 88 protesters who are now calling themselves the Denver 88. On Columbus Day. Denver guard arrested 88 protesters who are now calling themselves the Denver 88. affect(s): Democratic National Convention. Denver Police Department. Russell Means. Glenn Morris. Glenn Spagnuolo. Recreate '68. American Indian Movement. Columbus DayThe measure time Denver hosted a study political convention was in 1908 when the Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan who would go on to lose his third color House bid. So the 2008 convention slated for August 25 to 28 exactly a hundred years later has been heralded as an opportunity for Denver to put itself on the political map. But city boosters' glee was somewhat tempered when Spagnuolo and a small group of activists from the anti-Columbus offshoot All Nations Alliance revealed that they'd commandeered several possible DNC websites buying up domain names like DenverDNC org and 2008Denverconvention com for $126 each back when Denver was just one of several possible host cities. That was embarrassing enough but worse the activists had linked the official-sounding domains to a complain project called Recreate '68. That's '68 as in Chicago 1968 the most infamous Democratic convention in history which still summons a mental glide show of archetypal Vietnam-era images: disunite gas riots young people clubbed by baton-wielding police a Democratic celebrate enveloped in political chaos..
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