Photos: Second No Kings Protest Draws Thousands to Capitol, Downtown

After months of smaller turnouts at protests against President Donald Trump, thousands of demonstrators showed up at the Colorado Capitol today — over 8,000 people, according to the Colorado State Patrol, and far more, according to other estimates — and showed their outrage with speeches, marches and a small clash with police.

“It was a great turnout, peaceful,” said Denise Friend, a protester. “There were even some MAGA folks who came through, and we talked. I think it wasn’t quite an emergency yet, and now people are seeing and they’re waking up. The house is on fire.”

Protesters started gathering at the Capitol around noon. Dozens were dressed in colorful, funny outfits in recognition of a Portland protester who was pepper-sprayed during a rally outside of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on October 4. In support, Coloradans showed up dressed as Cartman and Kenny from South Park, an axolotl (an amphibian from Mexico), Darth Vader with Mardi Gras beads, a lobster with a guitar (i.e., a rock lobster) and a unicorn. The most common costume was the Statue of Liberty, with a handful of women donning copper-green dresses and crowns and adding features like “Eat the Rich” written in the fire of their torch or X’s over the eyes to suggest that liberty is dead.

Acrss the Capitol at Lincoln Veterans Memorial Park, local activist groups including 50501 Colorado and the Denver chapter of the Party of Socialism and Liberation had tents set up where people could find how to continue expressing their opposition to Trump outside of protests. Meanwhile, at the west steps of the Capitol, thousands listened to speakers representing teachers’ unions, federal workers and advocates for socialism, LGBTQ rights and Palestine, among other causes.

Kids and families were part of the crowd, too. And thousands of other Coloradans joined protests around the state, from Grand Junction to Colorado Springs to Estes Park.

After an hour or so at the Capitol, many protesters headed out on a march — going first down Broadway and later along 16th Street. Some marched with antifa flags, recognizing that last month Trump had declared it a terrorist group, “an anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law,” in an executive order.

The crowd thinned as some protesters headed to 20th Street near Coors Field in an attempt to march onto the highway and disrupt traffic. They were stopped by heavily armed Denver Police Department officers and Colorado State Patrol troopers wielding tall riot shields and gas masks. Drones overhead also monitored these demonstrators, who stopped for a standoff at 20th and Chestnut Place.

At around 4:30 p.m., which was half an hour after the No Kings protest was scheduled to end at the Capitol, officers began hurling smoke grenades and shooting pepper balls, which release an irritating gas that smells like chlorine and burns the mouth and nostrils. The group that had stuck around for a standoff was only about a few hundred strong; officers tackled a couple of masked protesters after they threw objects at them. The small clash ended at 15th Street and Chestnut, and the crowd was dispersed.

According to the DPD, “several arrests were made” at that incident.

Another group of protesters had moved west on Sixth Avenue, and encountered officers at Santa Fe Drive, stationed there to block access to the highway. After warning this group to disperse, officers deployed smoke (no pepper balls, according to the DPD), and arrested three more demonstrators.

All told, there were twelve arrests, for offenses ranging from aggravated assault to assault on a police officer to graffiti.

“This is serious, and we need to keep resisting,” said protester Stephanie Iacoletti. “Our representatives are failing. We have to be responsible for changing things ourselves.”

Here are more pictures from the day:

This story was updated at 8:30 p.m. on October 18 to include the total number of arrests and the DPD’s account of the incident at Sixth Avenue and Santa Fe Drive; our reporter was covering the group on Chestnut Place.