Colorado Police Deny Targeting Environmental Protesters by Using Undercover Officers

protester350Colorado

Turns out undercover police officers were in the crowd of oil and gas protesters who demonstrated peacefully last May in the Denver suburb of Lakewood.

Police at Lakewood deny they were there to target the protesters but simply to provide information to commanders.

The Associated Press says the department claims the undercover operators were not gathering information on individuals nor did they pose as protesters.

“We didn’t go in for names or anything like that, other than to see that the thing went peacefully,” explained Police Department spokesman Steve Davis.

The revelation of the undercover operatives came through an open records request made by the Intercept website..

The protest happened May 12 at a hotel where the U,.S. Bureau of Land Management held an auction of oil and gas drilling rights on federal land. The sale was not interrupted and there were no arrests or violence.

Two groups held the protest. One was Wild Earth Guardians and the other was 350 Colorado.

Micah Parkin, executive director of 350 Colorado wasn’t happy about the undercover police officers.

“We’re the voice of the people, just trying to protect the most basic of things–clean air, clean water and clean environment,” he said.