Colorado taxpayers are footing the $3 million bill to protect protestors who demonstrate on the Capitol grounds in Denver with the construction of concrete posts.
Westword reports that events like the anti-Israel “cease fire” rally last week “inspired” the state police to begin installing the posts, which is expected to take a couple of months.
The posts are supposed to protect protestors from being rammed by drivers, which Westword reports has happened several times in Colorado since the BLM protests.
Of course, those incidents occurred when cars on roads were suddenly confronted by protestors in the road, not from vehicles veering onto the Capitol lawn to drive up to the front door and purposely plow over people.
“The purpose of the barriers is to ensure the safety of those who choose to gather on the west side of the Capitol to exercise their First Amendment rights,” Trooper Gabriel Moltrer tells Westword.
Interestingly, someone in the Capitol sought to ensure the safety of those inside the building from the protestors against Israel last week and locked the doors.
Denverite reports the Socialist Party took credit for shutting down a government building when lawmakers were notified by email the statehouse was closing early.
At 3 p.m., the same time the protest was scheduled to begin, security locked the doors, said State Rep. Said D.M. Sharbini of Thornton.
He could not confirm whether the lockdown was related to the demonstration.
“This is the people’s building,” he said. “They should be able to go inside if they want. As far as I’ve seen before, this building has been open pretty much every hour of every day.”
Some would argue our freedom of speech rights don’t extend to hate speech or inciting violence. We agree.
We would also argue that protesting on the side of a U.S. designated terrorist organization like Hamas and against the U.S. is a pretty good reason for locking the doors to a U.S. state Capitol building.
If Coloradans truly wanted to help Palestinians, they would want to be rid of Hamas as well.
Meanwhile in Grand Junction, hundreds turned out Tuesday to peacefully rally in support of Israel and show their support for the 200 hostages held by Hamas.
“The importance of this is that we stand with Israel and we stand with our Jewish people all around the world. Antisemitism has gone up 500% since the beginning of the war. People, because they’re Jews, are being killed,” event organizer Jody Crider told The Daily Sentinel.
No security was needed, because Western Slope folks still know how to be decent human beings.