[IPSM] AP: Protest blockades Columbus Day parade

[Jaggi Singh]

Protest blockades Columbus Day parade

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- More than 200 sign-waving and chanting protesters
were arrested Saturday after blocking a Columbus Day parade for more than
an hour, police said.

Police said they began making arrests after ordering the group of about
600 protesters to leave when the parade was about a block away. The 230
protesters who were arrested were charged with loitering and disobedience
to a lawful order.

There were no reports of violence or injuries.

Police said the protesters, many of whom were American Indians, gathered
at the state Capitol, then marched to the parade route in downtown Denver.

Most carried signs, including one that read "Not Genocide, Celebrate
Pride" and another showing a crossed out picture of Columbus with the word
"savage" over it.

Adam K. Becenti, a University of Colorado-Boulder student of Navajo
descent, said the protest was meant to educate people about the
inaccuracies in history books.

"We're grown up to believe he was the first person here" which denies the
American Indians' place in history and ignores their genocide, he said.

But Carter Barnard, a member of the Sons of Italy in America, said the
protesters had no right to delay the event.

"We have a permit for the parade," he said. "We don't try to stop them
from their celebrations."

About 150 people were arrested during an anti-Columbus Day rally in Denver
in 2000.



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