Pro-Palestine Protesters Facing 300 Days in Jail for Shutting Down Speer Boulevard

Noah Perlmutter, a Lakewood-based leader for Jewish Voice for Peace-Denver/Boulder, went before a judge on Friday, February 16, and was told that he could spend 300 days — or possibly more — behind bars for what he and fourteen other pro-Palestine protesters did to Denver motorists back in December.

Perlmutter and his "Free Palestine" partners are charged with committing three misdemeanors on December 3, 2023, when they blocked traffic on Speer Boulevard by the Colorado Convention Center, which was hosting the Jewish National Fund’s Global Conference for Israel. The fifteen defendants sat in a circle and bound their arms together with makeshift tubes composed of duct tape and metal wiring, refusing to leave after being ordered to do so by police.

Asked if the possibility of jail time and fines would deter them from future pro-Palestine efforts, Perlmutter and several of the other JVP members in court that day all had the same answer.

"Absolutely not," Perlmutter said. "This does not discourage me from my politics; it does not discourage me from knowing the difference between right and wrong. I intend to keep trying to help people in our community who are suffering. I intend to keep trying to help Palestinians who are suffering and to end an illegal occupation. And I have no intention of stopping doing that." Colin McIntosh, another JVP defendant, told Westword: "Regardless of what the law says, what we are doing is morally necessary. We have to be doing this. We shouldn't be criminalized for this. The city should be spending their time and energy calling for a ceasefire, trying to get Washington to stop committing a genocide or being complicit in a genocide. We need to stop supporting Israel and cannot be punishing people for calling for what is clearly the morally correct thing to do."

JVP protesters Saoirse Maloney and Alex Borenstein both agreed, saying the current charges won't prevent them from shutting down traffic again. "We will stay with this and stay committed," Maloney said.

"The Free Palestine movement will continue," Borenstein added.

JVP rep Daryn Copeland confirms to Westword that more protests are planned, including one on Monday, February 26, again on Speer Boulevard.

For months, the Denver/Boulder chapter of JVP has been protesting Israel's actions and calling for Colorado officials to issue ceasefire declarations and end public support for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas.

Describing itself as a "national grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine," the local JVP branch believes that both national and Colorado politicians alike are aiding and abetting "Israel's war crimes" and "genocide" in Gaza, where Israeli forces continue to hammer Hamas with bombings and military raids following the October 7 attacks by the terror group on Israel, which left 1,400 people dead or taken hostage.

More than 29,000 people have been killed in the Israel-Hamas war, and an estimated 1.7 million are currently displaced, according to the New York Times, citing numbers from Gaza officials.

JVP leader Siena Mann held a press conference outside the Denver Justice Center complex after the February 16 hearing to draw attention to what's happening in Gaza and call on the city attorney's office to drop the charges against the JVP defendants because they're fighting for what they believe is a good cause.  "We are witnessing the horror of this ongoing genocide, and at the same time our city of Denver is criminalizing our community and our organization for protesting for the humanity of Palestinian people and to say that as Jews we reject Israel's assertion that they are doing this in the name of our safety," Mann said. "This is not what makes us safe."

More than 100 people took part in the December 3 protest with JVP and other activist groups as an "expression of solidarity with the people of Palestine," as the Denver/Boulder JVP chapter put it. "Jews Against Genocide!" was the rallying cry.

After that demonstration, the Denver Police Department said that the activists were arrested for obstructing a street, failing to obey a police order and the use of obstruction equipment. If found guilty, the judge in their cases would have the discretion to apply sentences concurrently or consecutively, which could result in up to 660 days in jail.

Perlmutter and the other defendants say they can't talk specifics about their cases since they're pending. The Denver City Attorney's Office declined comment for the same reason.

"We're Jewish people, here saying that using Jews as a justification for this violence, we're not going to stand for it," Mann told Westword after the hearing. "We don't believe that [Israel's war with Hamas] is what makes us safe — in Israel or around the world."

"It is absurd that fifteen people willing to stand up for basic human decency are being punished, but it is a shame upon our nation that our government has still not committed itself to a ceasefire," Perlmutter added. "America has a proud history of civil disobedience when elected officials fail to represent the public. Over 60 percent of voters support a ceasefire, and yet the Denver City Council just rejected a ceasefire resolution."

Four days before the hearing, Denver City Council members had voted 8-4 against a ceasefire proclamation sponsored by councilmembers Shontel Lewis, Sarah Parady, Jamie Torres and Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez. Opponents argued that such a proclamation would ignite allegations of anti-Semitism and only create more division in the community.


While they were speaking outside the courthouse, JVP members were informed that the Glenwood Springs City Council had passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. "Amazing!" Maloney said, clapping and cheering with others. "We have to realize the time is now. We don't have to wait hundreds of years to be like, 'What happened in Gaza is bad.' And right now that's what's happening. We're like, 'Oh, it's such a hard situation.' But there is a stance to take, there is a movement."

Until local officials take that stance, JVP members and supporters say they plan to keep shining a spotlight on the "complicitness," whether it's outside court or in the street.

"We just get ignored if we do things the way they want us to do things," McIntosh told Westword. "And then criminalized for taking action that might actually have an effect. After four months, our elected officials still haven't called this a genocide. They can't even say the word 'ceasefire.' So we will continue protesting against oppression and keep building up our community and this movement."