City inspectors board up raided home for ‘code violations’

Something tells me that 30 people living in one house is a code violation.

During the DNC here in Denver I was a legal observer of the protests that took place here and had close up knowledge of what the protesters did and did not do and did and did not plan. I also witnessed time and again police officials making false statements to the press in order to paint protesters in the worst possible light and to help garner public opinion in their favor should the police act in a reckless or irresponsible manner.

In Denver in the run up to the convention police officials in order to add weight to their arguments for 'special' laws to deal with protesters put forth the false idea that protesters were planning to fling feces and urine at police and would be coming with a wild variety of weapons.

During the course of the protests police released statements alleging that protesters were seen carrying rocks and had been observed carrying bags of “inidentified mysterious liquids”. All four days of the demonstrations here I was variously positioned at the frontlines between the protesters and police or in the midst of the protesters, at no time did I ever witness any of the activities alleged by the police and at no time did I witness anyone planning any of the actions being alleged by the police.

Rest assured that the authorities are acting pre-emptively not to protect the public but to protect themselves and I don't mean from any threats posed by the protesters per se but to protect their own image. By painting the protester in the worst possible light in advance of protesters legitimately exersicing their rights the police are trying to gain justification in advance for whatever actions they may chose to take regaless of violations of fundamental rights in the hopes of having the backing of the public regardless of how wrong they may be.

They weren't living there. The were visiting. Only five people live there on a regular basis. Plus, code violations happen all over the city (see the house next door), and the city isn't so swift to come in and close up the entire home. They didn't even give the homeowner a chance to fix said violations before they boarded it up.

Great points, DenverRon. As one neighbor said, it was part of the propaganda.

There is a significant difference between visiting and living at a residence. Any reasonable thinking person would conclude that most of the 30 people were only staying for the duration of the RNC.

I attended the meeting at Powderhorn Park today and it brought me to tears, this country and all the rights as citizens are being stripped layer by layer from us all!
The lives given by our founding Fathers of this great country and the lives sacrificed in WWI and WWII have been for naught.
911 enabled the right wing establishment and big business to pull on peoples fears which resulted in the loss of our human rights according to the Constitution of the United States, Amendments and the Bill of rights!
The time has come to rise up and fight the hard fight to restore and maintain our rights and freedoms set forth by the actions of our people in the past!

The Constitution burns under George Bush. What happened to due process and the First Amendment? Shame on you MInneapolis.

Were the cops wearing brown shirts and jackboots?

Ain't Bushworld Great? No civil liberties, privacy, etc.

I's pretty obvious that this was only for a week, during the RNC convention. They were going to protest and were targeted. That's it.

But let's not forget the those 3 guys picked up in/or close to Denver w/sniper rifles/equiped for silencers, camo gear, binoculars etc. They weren't deemed a threat to Obama. Just meth-heads.

Fascism….

As a former Minnesotan, I am very disappointed to see such discriminatory actions taking place in a city I was always proud of. What has happened to the place I once called home, where constitutional rights were recognized and equality wasn't just talked about – it was practiced. Is this what Republican politics (Bush and Cheney) have made even Minnesotans turn into? If so, I mourn the death of the land of Lake Wobegon. Fer sure. You betcha.

i pray the majority of citizens of this country will wake up! What does it have to take to make people see what is going on???

I can't help but laugh out loud at the sad Police State my country has become. I live in Europe, where in many countries they actually *have* the legal power to do what the police did there today, sometimes without a warrant. Yet when they occasionally exercise such power there is outrage across the entire country, and heads roll (if only years later). That pretty little constitution the U.S. is so proud of is only as good as the people who force it to be upheld. Cheers to the NLG for being there for these people.

They train them in Iraq, then bring them home for jobs in the security industry. Expect more of it.

Ding, Ding, Ding–we have a winner. Dana Pearson is the first person to call this what it is. Although meowoman came close with the “brown shirts and jackboots”. So, does enough of the Constitution exist for someone to file suit for violation of Constitutional Rights? Anyone? I don't have standing, but I'm damned hopeful that someone will sue every government official, involved in this. I would include the cost of repair of what the police destroyed and any equipment confiscated, which is not returned. I would definitely include the clear lack of action in the crack house nearby, as evidence that because of their political beliefs, these folks were targeted and their Civil Rights were violated. To summarize, no action where public safety should be acted on, but heavy handed action for something that isn't.

The back door was fixed.
The garage door was also busted, even though the next door neighbor offered to just push the button for them and let the automatic opener do the job for them.

Yeah, it's not like they were reporters on the street doing an expose or anything, eh?

Something tells me that it was 35 people and it was 3 houses (with 6-12 people per house). They also handcuffed a 5-year-old child, as I recall… but hey, at least it's not a code violation!

Great Comment by A Blenio. I agree completely. Just Because it is written, at this point in this country's tilt toward erosion of civil rights, we can not expect the government to uphold them-just look at recent supreme court desions.
Please remember Fletcher's position as sheriff is an elected position and it would be wise to remember this whenever he runs again so that he can be opposed by someone who actually believes in the constitution.

I'm sorry, the point you are trying to make is what???

What is happening in Minneapolis is eerily similar to some of the tactics the Chinese government used when “cleaning up” Beijing for the Olympic games. That is happened there was not surprising. That it is happening here is not just surprising, it is embarrassing and flies in the face of everything this country stands for.

Isn't it wonderful to live in a country where we each have individual rights????? And these RIGHTS cannot be violated nor taken from us without “DUE PROCESS”!!!!!

I wonder what political party these officials are in! Oh! Maybe I can guess after all!

I've been listening to and reading stories such as these for most my life. I grew up in a house where we were not to speak louder than a whisper about the government or else they could come and take everything away. And yes my grandparents were born and raised in this country. During WWII my grandfather was in the service and my grandmother worked for the government. Truth is you can pretty much stay under the radar and do what you want so long as you don't obstruct the government or expose its corruption for what it is. And for things like this happen sporadicly and in small numbers to where the majority of the nation will either not get involved or quickly forget and continue in their daily routines of complacency. As for the crack house unless if it was selling crack and bringing in a lot of money the authorities would care less because its what they can confiscate in a seize that matters most. And as for the protesters or anyone else for that matter, if they find a bottle of jack in your liqueur cabinet and a face cloth in your bathroom or even various cleaning solvents under your sink your automatically a terrorist plotting an attack.

Forgive my ignorance. If the city creates the code violations, through it's own police force, does the city not have to fix the code violations?

The main reporters for Democracy Now, journalism veterans (not kids) were arrested while covering the convention outside, also for “conspiracy to riot.” Because freedom of the press only only applies to press approved by the government, obviously.

Seems like your typical Political Repression to me. . Considering some of bush''s previous repressive laws, I'm surprised he hasn't had them moved COMPLETELY out of sight of the politicians instead of just 740 feet away.

Par for the course, apparently…

http://iwitnessvideo.info/blog/103.html

The police can't be trusted any more, since they don't act honorably. Whom else are we to trust?

all we can do is play our part abide by the laws even though they might seem outragous. times to protest are times to protest and times to play it cool is times to play it cool. look how the u.n. is allowing the hatian national police to mow protestors down in the street. they already developed the denial weaponary for protestors, when our goverment turns corrupt then thats when we become corrupt because we are all americans. i will defend my country till the breath is gone from my longs from foriegn or domestic. i strongly believe there is still some good in our country but freedom must be restored in blood and faught for sometimes and there is no way to avoid it. the world looks at us as fat, dumb, and lazy but there are really mistaken. we will not fold we will not lay down and die we will not surrender because our liberties are drenched in blood to protect. its not about black and white its about the haves and the have nots and the goverment can depopulate people but they will have a hard time doing it.