Police fire tear gas, rubber bullets at Springs war protest

By The Associated Press
February 15, 2003

COLORADO SPRINGS - Police fired tear gas at anti-war demonstrators and hit at least one with a rubber bullet after a rally spilled out of a park and blocked a major thoroughfare Saturday.

At least two people were treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released after the rally at Palmer Park. Thirteen people were arrested after they forced the closure of a half-mile stretch of Academy Boulevard, police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said.

A second rally at Peterson Air Force Base ended with 21 arrests but no tear gas. Peterson is home to the Northern Command, the joint military command in charge of homeland security.

Arms said one person who picked up a tear gas canister and threw it toward police was hit with a .40-caliber rubberized bullet and subdued with a stun gun. Arms had initially denied reports that anyone was hit by a rubber bullets.

The demonstrators were protesting the threatened U.S. strike on Iraq. Police did not provide crowd estimates, but KVOR radio in Colorado Springs reported that about 3,000 people attended the Palmer Park rally and 300 turned out at Peterson.

After the park rally, some protesters emptied into Academy Boulevard. Arms said police fired tear gas after the protesters refused repeated warnings to disperse.

Some of the protesters danced and chanted, "Who owns the street? We own the street," angering some of the people who remained in the park.

Arms said the protesters had told police they planned to have a peaceful rally but he said police had received intelligence indicating that some protesters would try to break laws.

The protesters arrested at Peterson were taken into custody after police ordered them to leave, Arms said.

Most face misdemeanor charges of failing to disperse.

Members of the Colorado Coalition Against War in Iraq said they invited protesters from across the state to Colorado Springs because it is home to the largest concentration of military personnel and facilities in the state.

Well over a million people turned out in cities across the country and around the world on Saturday to protest the possible war.

In Boulder, home of the University of Colorado, an anti-war group circulated a petition on the city's pedestrian mall to impeach President Bush.

"The current administration is using fear tactics and the threat of perpetual war to control the American public," said Alexia Parks, spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center.