# @denverwestword on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DLAd_43Mawk
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/31491281-denverwestword-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/46e94e5251.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-06-17T15:42:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Denver Westword (@denverwestword) — https://gondola.cc/denverwestword

## Caption

Denver just saw its largest protest against President Donald Trump this year, with thousands marching from noon through night on Saturday, June 14. Although the day started out peacefully, many who kept demonstrating late into the night are still piecing together several chaotic events that led to three dozen arrests and law enforcement in riot gear, firing chemical irritants.

And, as with so many protests, the reports from law enforcement and participants differ.

Marches numbering in the hundreds and thousands split off from the Capitol throughout the day on June 14. When a large march returned to the Capitol via Lincoln at around 5:30 p.m., speakers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), one of the protest’s organizers, encouraged people to keep demonstrators in the weeks ahead and then told them to get home safely. 

Not everyone went home when PSL called it a day, however. An hour later, at 6:30 p.m., a sixth march set out down West Colfax Avenue from the Capitol towards Interstate 25. DPD confronted the marchers at West Colfax Avenue and Osage Street, which is close to the Interstate 25 on ramp.

“Following numerous loudspeaker announcements that the protesters would be denied access to the highway, protesters attempted to push through the line of officers,” according to DPD. “Officers deployed pepper balls and smoke — not tear gas — for crowd dispersal and area denial.”

Pepper balls (or pellets) are meant to be shot at the ground around protesters to release a bleachy, irritating gas that disperses them, but they also hurt when they hit human targets directly.

Videos from protesters sent to Westword and uploaded to r/DenverReddit show police in riot gear unleashing gas and pepper balls. Video submission emails and comments under these videos on social media accuse DPD of being the aggressors and using flash grenades, pepper spray and mace, as well as throwing protesters to the ground.

✍️ Read the full story by Bennito L. Kelty at westword.com or at the link in our bio. 

#denver #denvercolorado #denverprotests #nokings #westword #milehighcity

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denver, milehighcity, denvercolorado, westword, nokings, denverprotests

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