Theatre of the Irrational: Confronting anti-abortion protesters on the 16th Street Mall

An image from abortion protests on the 16th Street Mall. Denver's 16th Street Mall is generally a pretty happy place, from what I've seen. And why not? What's not to love about a street where you can max out all four of your credit cards on shit you really don't...

By Joe Tone

September 24, 2008

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

An image from abortion protests on the 16th Street Mall.

Denver's 16th Street Mall is generally a pretty happy place, from what I've seen. And why not? What's not to love about a street where you can max out all four of your credit cards on shit you really don't need before taking down a Cheesecake Factory meal that could feed half of Africa? What's not totally American and awesome about that?

But, as Sean Cronin and Adam Cayton-Holland report in this week's Westword, order, normalcy and rationale are often chucked wayward in the face of abortion issues. And that's what happened during the DNC, when an angry mob surrounded some protesters carrying particularly gross signs with a particularly fucked message: that Barack Obama is basically Adolf Hitler, since both men... well, I have no idea how they made that leap, but they did. And as the video captured by Westword after the jump shows, the people really weren't feeling their pitch. -- Joe Tone

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Westword has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.