Competing rallies ended in tragedy in Denver today outside the Civic Center.
Conservatives were holding a “Patriot Rally” in the amphitheater area when BLM/Antifa folks, who were holding a competing rally, separated by the police and barriers.
While the conservative group held signs decrying socialism and communism, and chanted in support of the police, the BLM/Antifa group has a literature table, encouraging people to join the Colorado Socialist Revolution.
According to The Post Millennial, the invitation to the radical rally included the following.
“Join the Denver Communists, Colorado Socialist Revolution, Anon Resistance Movement, W.I.T.C.H. Denver, H.O.E.S. (Help on Every Street), Front Range Mutual Aid Network, and more for a Black Lives Matter Anti-Fascist Soup Drive & Pop-up Communist Bookswap!” reads an invite posted on social media.
“Additionally, we will be counterprotesting a fascist rally that is supposed to happen at the same time and place!” the invitation continues. “The plan is to outnumber and outshine the fascists, set up our tables and tents in Civic Center Park, as near as we can be to the fascists! We want to send these worms back into their holes, demoralized and isolated, with only their racist, r*pist president to console them. We’ll have a soup for our family, music, speakers, communist books, and plenty of angry anti-fascists chants.”
The radicals burned a thin blue line flag right in front of the police as they mocked them.
Things went very wrong when the some of the BLM/Antifa folks breached the barriers to the conservative rally. Police fired pepper balls at the BLM/Antifa people.
But the police and people from both sides were standing around when an interaction went very wrong.
Warning: graphic
According to witnesses, a conservative person sprayed mace at a person. Then that person fired a shot, killing the conservative. The police took the shooter into custody along with another person. That shooter was identified in initial reports as affiliated with the Antifa group but now police are saying that he was a security guard not connected to Antifa.
Here’s another angle of the moments right before the shooting. Warning for language.
Reports indicate he had the gun out already before the mace.
We’ll keep you updated as we learn more about the case.