In a series of confrontations, “No Kings” protesters threw rocks and other objects at officers and tried to enter a major thoroughfare in Denver on Saturday night, prompting the police to deploy pepper balls and smoke to disperse the crowd, authorities said.
All told authorities arrested 35 people and one juvenile for resisting arrest, obstructing streets, throwing projectiles, and failing to obey orders, the Denver Police Department announced on Sunday morning.
The confrontations took place at night — hours after thousands of people converged in downtown Denver to protest actions by the Trump administration, notably his campaign to deport foreign nationals illegally staying in the U.S.
The first confrontation occurred around 6:30 p.m., when another march — the sixth one on Saturday — went westbound on W. Colfax Avenue toward I-25, according to the Denver Police Department.
Authorities said officers staged at Osage Street to block this smaller group from accessing the freeway. After warning that they could not access the highway, protesters tried to push through the line of officers, and authorities declared an unlawful assembly, the department said.
Officers then deployed pepper balls and smoke — not tear gas, a spokesman emphasized — to disperse the crowd. The police said protesters threw rocks and bottles at officers.
Then, at 9:20 p.m., a group marched toward the intersection of 20th Street and Blake Street near Coors Field. Officers said they sought to prevent the protesters from accessing I-25 and said some picked up rocks, the police said.
At this point, authorities declared the march an unlawful assembly and ordered the crowd to disperse, the police said.
The protesters began advancing toward officers, and authorities deployed pepper balls and smoke — but no tear gas, the police said.
The protesters threw rocks and objects at officers, the police said.
At 10:05 p.m., one protester started a small fire in the 1400 block of Lincoln Street, which was closed to vehicle traffic at that point. The police said the small fire burned out quickly, and the officers dispersed the protesters from that area.
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