A CBS news crew has uncovered a huge warehouse holding facility
in Denver, consisting of steel cages topped with barbed wire,
ready to receive thousands of protesters at this year's Democratic
National Convention.
"This is a building filled with metal holding
cells," described
CBS reporter Rick Sallinger. "We showed up at
the facility unannounced today, the doors were wide open, and
we managed to shoot for several minutes until a Denver sheriff's
captain asked us to leave."
The warehouse is located on the north-east side of Denver and
is owned by the city. It appears that officials wanted to keep
it a secret until the convention began. The police captain captured
on film warned that if made public, the facility could be compromised
"by people who are potentially trying to be disruptive."
The CBS footage shows a huge area of metal chain-link
cells that measure 5 yards by 5 yards, topped with rolls of barbed
wire. Each pen is adorned with an identifying letter.
Signs on the walls of the warehouse read "Warning!
Electric stun devices used in this facility."
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On seeing the footage one local political organizer
told the crew it resembled a "concentration camp", while
another described it as a "meat processing plant". The
facility has already been dubbed "Gitmo On The Platte".
Watch the video:
Such "prison camps" were also used in 2004 during the
Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The areas close
to the DNC in Boston consisted of concrete walls, barriers and
metal cages with barbed wire.
The areas were invisible to the Fleet Center where
the convention was held and were referred to as "Boston's
Camp X-Ray".
At the 2004 RNC in New York holding pens were also
employed as protestors and innocent people were swept up in mass
arrests and transferred to then-recently closed Hudson Pier Depot
at Pier 57 on the Hudson River in Manhattan.
The facility was quickly dubbed "Guantanamo on the Hudson"
as thousands were bound and paraded into a large warehouse area
behind steel caging.
More recently, such holding areas have been employed
in conjunction with the Orwellian concept of "free speech
zones".
The Secret Service has been granted the power to
declare "first amendment areas". They scout locations
where the president is scheduled to speak, or pass through, target
those who carry anti-Bush signs and escort them to the protest
pens prior to and during the event.
Inevitably the pens are far away from the event
location and well away from any media spotlight.
Holding pens will also be employed at the RNC later
this year with local law enforcement working with the secret service
to designate
the areas in Minneapolis.
A CBS news crew has uncovered a huge warehouse holding facility
in Denver, consisting of steel cages topped with barbed wire,
ready to receive thousands of protesters at this year's Democratic
National Convention.
Such "prison camps" were also used in 2004 during the
Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The areas close
to the DNC in Boston consisted of concrete walls, barriers and
metal cages with barbed wire.
The facility was quickly dubbed "Guantanamo on the Hudson"
as thousands were bound and paraded into a large warehouse area
behind steel caging.
