1,500 people rally for peace in Denver
By Pam Regensberg
9/30/01
DENVER — Wearing a black tricorn hat and a matching, thigh-length jacket, Boulder's Bob McFarland shouldered an American flag as he marched down Colfax Avenue on Saturday.
He, like more than 1,000 people who walked the busy Denver street, was demonstrating for a peaceful response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the East Coast. Many in the crowd called the attacks a crime, not a war.
"I think we're capable of making a very bad mistake," McFarland said.
The march started at the Martin Luther King Jr. statue at City Park and ended at the City and County Building, where an additional 500 people had gathered to listen to speakers urging peace and tolerance.
In Boulder, volunteers collected donations for the Red Cross as musicians provided entertainment at Boulder's Central Park. Event organizer Rita Haugland, said the several thousand dollars raised will be used to help families of victims who were killed in the terrorist attacks.
In Denver, many marchers carried signs reading "Justice, not vengeance" and "No more victims." Others beat on colorfully painted plastic buckets as they moved along Colfax to the rally.
Denver police arrested 10 marchers, accusing them of offenses ranging from police obstruction to concealed weapons. Denver police Sgt. Tony Lombard said some of the activists ran on the streets and concealed their faces with bandannas, drawing police attention.
At the rally, Amina Nawaz, a University of Colorado sophomore and the president of the Muslim Student Association, told the crowd to be vigilant and continue on an anti-violence road.
"I'm sick and tired of innocent people paying for sins they have not committed," she said, drawing applause from the crowd. "I'm not too tired, however, to know that something must be done.
"I'm scared, too," she continued. "It's not easy, but who said the path to peace was?"
Dawn Engle, a Boulder resident who is a co-founder of the educational youth program, Peace Jam Foundation, said the U.S. must respond, with restraint, to the acts of aggression.
"There should be a targeted response but not broad-scale," Engle said, adding that the response should avoid the loss of life.
Engle and others at the rally suggested trying Osama bin Laden, who is thought to be behind the attacks, and his followers in an international court. Many said "justice" is the key, not additional deaths.
"I think most of us already understand that violence begets violence," said Boulder's Ron Forthofer, who ran for Congress last year on the Green Party ticket. "This is a perfect time for the U.S. to re-evaluate it's policies."
Contact Pam Regensberg at (303) 473-1329 or regensbergp@thedailycamera.com.