Denver Police Chief Ron Thomas said Friday he denied Auraria campus officials' request to remove pro-Palestinian protesters from an encampment for a second time after police arrested 45 people in a tense sweep of the site last week — saying that there is 'no legal way'. 'for officers to dismantle the demonstration.
Thomas blamed Auraria campus leaders for mishandling the aftermath of the mass arrests. He said he had expected the campus to collect protesters' tents to return them at a later date, but that the campus instead left the tents at the site, allowing the protesters to quickly set up their solidarity camp in Gaza rebuild the Tivoli Quad.
“And as you might imagine, they just came and put the tents back up, and we were back to square one,” Thomas said. “At that point, (Auraria officials) asked us to come back and participate in the operation again. …And I didn't think it was safe, nor appropriate, to go in and do that again. So I shut it down.”
Thomas, who spoke at a regular Denver meeting Citizen Oversight Council on Friday morningwent on to say that law enforcement has “no legal way” to clear the pro-Palestinian encampment on the campus that serves the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver and Community College of Denver.
“While the school would prefer that the group leave the area, I don't think there is a legal way to do that,” he said. “Well, I know there's no legal way to do that unless they actually do something that creates an unlawful assembly.”
Thomas added that police have no indication that the demonstration will soon turn into an unlawful assembly. He said negotiations have been ongoing with protesters to remove the tents since last week, and he continues to discuss the situation with Auraria campus leadership.
“I explained to (Auraria) leadership that we are absolutely not going to just go in and wipe out this peaceful protest just because they are occupying a space on your campus that you would like to use for something else. at this time, and because of your fear that this may grow to the point where it disrupts other campus activities,” Thomas said. “I made that pretty clear.”
Representatives of the Auraria campus did not comment on the chief's position on Friday. The campus did release a statement saying officials had met again with the student protesters and vowed to “continue to support and encourage peaceful debate and civil engagement on our campus while ensuring the safety of our students, employees and visitors.”
The Denver District Attorney's Office, which is prosecuting the people arrested in Auraria last week, did not respond to questions from The Post.
When asked how Denver's city camping ban does or does not apply to the Auraria protesters, Joe Salas, as spokesman for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, said the campus and its administrators have “policies to decide what is permitted” and that the city continues to work with the schools.
Thomas' approach is a reversal from a week ago, when Denver police officers, sheriff's deputies and Colorado State Patrol troopers tried to dismantle the camp on April 26. The officers stated that the demonstrators entered the site because they had set up tents contrary to the law. of campus rules that prohibit camping.
Officers arrested 40 people on trespassing charges, and another five people on charges of assaulting officers, Thomas said Friday in response to questions from Citizen Oversight Board members.
“I approved the plan,” Thomas said. “My thought was that this would result in a small number of arrests, if any. And that ultimately turned out not to be the case.”
Chief defends past mass arrests and use of force
Thomas defended the officers' actions during the April 26 operation, initially saying there was “no force used at all” during the arrests. When pressed about officers caught video pushing protesters, he amended his original statement to say there was “no use of force to control or arrest anyone.”
“If someone enters an officer's space and feels like he or she is in danger…” Thomas said, shrugging slightly. “I know when I was there with the mayor, there were people coming closer than was comfortable for the mayor, so efforts were made to push people back and create that safe distance. As for the use of conspicuous tools, less lethal (weapons), there was none of that. No hitting, kicking, none of that.”
Johnston and Thomas addressed the protesters around 7:30 PM on April 26, hours after the first wave of arrests, and gave the protesters 30 minutes to take down their tents or face arrest. However, no additional mass arrests were made that night.
Auraria campus police made “40 of 45 hands-on arrests for trespassing” during the initial sweep, which took place around 1 p.m., Thomas said. The Denver police officers moved in as the first officers called for backup.
Some demonstrators tried to “unpack” fellow demonstrators by cutting off their zip ties or removing them from officers' control, the chief added.
Thomas defended the deployment of the city's SWAT team during the response to the protest, saying it is standard procedure to deploy SWAT and officers from similar teams to respond to protests or special events because such teams do not regularly Having to answer 911 calls. .
The chief also discussed changes in police approaches to crowd control during protests following the agency's unconstitutional response to the massive demonstrations that swept the city in 2020 following the death of George Floyd. The city has been ordered to pay millions of dollars in legal settlements and fines for the use of excessive force during those demonstrations.
“We are very clear about the scope of our legal authority and we are certainly cognizant of the fact that we certainly do not want to engage in something that we could then be sued for and that would come at the expense of Denver taxpayers,” he said.
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.
