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Denver to drop cases against 230 Columbus Day protesters
Monday, January 24, 2005 -
The Denver city attorney said today he will dismiss the cases against more than 230 people charged with disrupting a Columbus Day parade last October, citing court rulings that crippled the prosecution.
A jury acquitted eight protest organizers last week on charges of disobeying a lawful order after a judge threw out loitering charges. Another judge today threw out the loitering charge against other protesters. City Attorney Cole Finegan said convictions in the other cases were unlikely because the facts are the same. Nearly 240 people were arrested Oct. 9 for blocking the parade route in protest of Columbus' landing in America. Protesters said Columbus' arrival started the genocide of indigenous people. Parade participants say they were honoring an explorer as well as their own Italian heritage. Finegan said his office started work today drafting ordinances making it illegal to disrupt a legal assembly and obstruct a street or highway. He said they would be modeled on state laws. Prosecutors have had difficulty convicting protesters arrested during previous parades as well. Four were acquitted in April 1992 for blocking the 1991 parade. After those acquittals, organizers of the parade canceled the 1992 event. It lay dormant until 2000 when it was revived by Sons of Italy-New Generation. In 2000, 139 protesters were arrested, but the cases against them were all dismissed. |