DNC Monday – In the Park

by T.L. James | 11:15 pm, August 25, 2008 | Comments Off

After the “Levitate the Mint” event, we headed over to Civic Center Park nearby, where rumors going around said the anarchists of Black Bloc were organizing (!) some mischief or other. Not sure, but this may have been what became the “unrest” outside the Sheraton later in the evening, but when we were there? Nada.

We passed by yet more groups of police, this time in full riot gear, including impressive-looking flak jackets (!), which lent credence to the rumors. Oddly, several of them greeted us cheerfully as we passed by on the sidewalk, and their unexpected outgoing friendliness so surprised me that I completely forgot to take a picture of any of them. Doh.

Next to the Greek Theater we found them…hippies, hobos, anarchists, freegans, vegans, and…a contortionist?

Pot smoke hung thick in the air:

There were even more folks milling about here than took part in the Mint levitation…no, really…

..and more kaffiyehs…

…more film crews…

…more bandanas…

…and a Mormon:

“…look at me look at me look at me look at me look at me….”

The Tiananmen Square schtick was not lost on the cops. They just ignored it.

This guy noticed the same thing I’ve noticed – namely, that there are more cops than protestors in Denver this week. But if I were in his shoes, I think I’d be trying to address the imbalance by recruiting more protestors.

Boy, that guy from Midnight Oil has really lost weight…

What, you lost it again?!?

“Hi! Could I interest you in joining the Colonial Navy?”

Bored with the complete lack of anarchist mayhem, we decided to check out the mosque-like tent…

…which was filled with art photos of everyday Iranians, printed on nearly-transparent fabric and suspended from the cieling:

While I was skeptical of the message of the exhibit (a photographic exhibit riffing off Sting’s insufferably saccharine 1985 hit song “Russians“, intending to make Americans realize that — surprise! — Iranians are human, too), the photographs were well done. Albeit, prone to strange juxtapositions against the Capitol…