Big day here in Denver. Michelle Obama just closed out the night at the Pepsi Center, while not far outside the arena, police shot protesters with pepper spray. We had two reporters on the scene; I've been working on a piece for tomorrow's ATC, a vox about what motivates protesters.
Today, I did a "reporter debrief" on Colorado Matters.
You can hear that here. It also aired on TV, Rocky Mountain PBS. Unfortunately there were a couple problems with the debrief. One we corrected immediately after the segment aired; protesters were shouting at police on Sunday, not the other way around. A listener wrote us to point out the other problem; he was disappointed with my characterization of protesters wearing bandannas, that of course not all activists who wear bandannas are anarchists. We'll mention his comment on tomorrow's show. I'm less than pleased with the problems. But I'm very glad we have listeners who care enough to correct us, and I've undoubtedly learned from the experience.
After the debrief, I reported from the Minutemen demonstration and Tent State University. I did a lot of driving around town, as you'll see in these photos. Again, there was enormous police presence on just about every corner of downtown. I even saw an arrest (not protest related) while between assignments. In all, there's an air of festivity downtown; but just outside the center of the city, even in my neighborhood just a couple miles away, you almost wouldn't know there's such a big deal happening just a few blocks away.
For those of you who know Denver, you know the 16th Street Mall doesn't normally look like this. I tried to take a picture that gives a sense of how the street is so packed with people. It compares to a New York sidewalk scene, believe it or not. Like I said yesterday, I've been feeling a lot of local pride; and then sometimes I feel like a stranger in my own city. It's a surreal week in Denver!
I covered protest again this afternoon. Iraq Veterans Against the War marched four miles to the Pepsi Center, after the Rage Against the Machine show. They had a police escort the whole way; and when the protest didn't disperse, the riot police came out in droves. At least 100 of them, in full armor, stood guarding one city block. There wasn't any violence though. My colleague Eric Whitney is filing a story about it tomorrow.
Several of my stories aired today. My protester vox finally aired: Voices of Protest. And my business story: Business Mixed Downtown.
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