Stories Index

George Lelesz, a laid-off fireman who is now a bus driver, spends a Saturday in October, 2011 demonstrating in Denver's Civic Center Plaza with the Occupy Denver movement.

With Denver's City Hall as a backdrop, an Occupy Denver demonstrator holds a sign along Broadway.

During Occupy Denver's initial occupation in front of the State Capitol overlooking Civic Center Plaza, a free store provided clothing, blankets and other necessities to camping demonstrators.

Occupy Denver demonstrator Sara Garcia laughs as she sits in on park steps in front of Colorado's State Capitol with her dog, Tony.

Shadows, signs and camping gear line the sidewalk along Denver's Broadway as it passes through Civic Center Plaza, location of the Occupy Denver protest.

Occupy Denver participants deliver a donation of fruit cups to "Thunderdome," the protest's ramshackle food kitchen in Veternan's Park at the foot of the Colorado Capitol.

Outside Occupy Denver's kitchen hut, Barb, left and Sleepy, who did not want to reaveal their last names, prepare coffee for the dozens of demonstrators. "We are here to put the REVerie in the REVolution," said Barb. "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised — but it will be caffeinated," says Sleepy, in a reference to Gil Scott-Heron's 1970 poem.

October 14, 2011. As dawn breaks over the Colorado state capitol, state police move in, push the demostrators across Broadway onto city property in Civic Center Plaza, and tear down or confiscate the structures, tents and sleeping bags on state land.

State patrol officers in riot gear line Broadway in front of dump trucks loaded with the remains of the Occupy Denver encampment.

Neal Minter, serving as "Security" for the Occupy Denver movement on the morning of Oct. 14, 2011, talks to a reporter after state troopers push the protest off state land. Worried about further conflict with law enforcement, he keep a wary eye on his angry fellow demonstrators in Civic Center Plaza to make sure they are not goving police an excuse for arrests.

Onlookers stand on a chalked symbol of the Occupy movement - the "99%." - as they watch the demolishment of Occupy Denver's original encampment on Oct. 14, 2011.

After the dawn demolishment of the Occupy Denver encampment, and once the trucks carrying the remnants have departed, protestors are allowed back onto the state-owned property along Broadway, under the watchful eyes of law enforcement.

Martina Ramos, 9 , gives an interview to a documentary filmmaker on Oct. 15, 2011, before Occupy Denver's first weekly march from their new location in Civic Center Plaza.

A young demonstrator adds a chalk message to a Broadway sidewalk in front of the state Capitol.

A child holds up a sign in front of the Colorado State Capitol building during an Occupy Denver rally in Civic Center Plaza.

With bullhorns and drums, the Occupy Denver movement begins a march from Civic Center Plaza through downtown to the Denver Branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.

Marchers carry an American flag as they leave Civic Center Plaza.

Occupy Denver marchers are silhouetted against downtown Denver buildings as they march along 15th St. from Civic Center Plaza to the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank.

As the Occupy Denver march reaches 15th and Champa Sts., a little girl watches the show from the window of a restaurant.

A fistfight breaks out between two Occupy Denver demonstrators over whether or not to burn an American flag outside the Denver branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. The flag was tossed over a bank fence and not burned.

Occupy Denver protesters mount the balustrade of the Federal Reserve Bank branch at 16th and Champa Sts. in downtown Denver.

Occupy Denver demonstrators dance on the American flag in the amphitheater of Denver's Civic Center Plaza.