Police to Be Friendly But Firm With Crowds

As opposed to the standard of "just firm". Just make sure there is plenty of video footage for future court cases. I think if would be important to exactly what is on the list of "paraphernalia for violence" ....

If Denver police see the potential for violence or destruction brewing during the Democratic National Convention, they have been trained and instructed to swarm in and take down troublemakers with immediate and direct force, Mayor John Hickenlooper said.

In an interview with The Denver Post, the mayor was asked how police would respond if "bad actors"try to become a disruption during an event such as an otherwise peaceful parade.

"So if they're actually pulling out — let's call it the paraphernalia of violence — police are going to move right in and take them out of that group," Hickenlooper said.

The mayor also said his office has communicated with protest groups considered peaceful and law-abiding and been told most demonstrators would not prevent police from such action.

"They don't want violence," Hickenlooper said. "The people who are in that protest march . . . would just as soon have them removed."

Not so fast, some war protesters said. "We don't believe in pre-emptive arrests, just like we don't believe in pre-emptive strikes with other nations," CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin said. "What might seem to police as, quote, 'bad actors' might be some young people wearing black that they have been profiling."

The Denver Post