Denver police arrest 31 protesters at convention (Roundup)

Aug 27, 2008, 8:05 GMT

Denver, Colorado - Denver police arrested 31 protesters outside the Democratic presidential nominating convention on Tuesday, including 13 anti-abortion demonstrators.

Eighteen people including out-of-state residents were arrested by the Denver police, bringing to 135 the total number of arrests since Saturday, before the convention opened, police said in an e-mailed statement.

Most were charged with interfering with police authority, loitering or trespassing. On Monday, police used pepper spray to quell a confrontation with police. In that incident, 100 people were arrested.

The 13 anti-abortion protestors, who were not apparently counted among the 135, conducted a sit-down strike outside a security gate of the Pepsi Centre after they were refused admission to the highly secured Democratic presidential nominating convention.

Randall Terry, national director of the Washington-based Operation Rescue, was among those arrested.

'A vote for Obama and Biden is a vote to sustain legalized child killing,' Terry was quoted as shouting. 'The police are enforcing the laws of obstructing traffic yet they won't enforce the laws against the killing of children.'

On Monday, Democrats adopted a party platform that includes support for a woman's right to choose an abortion - a right that hangs on the makeup of the US Supreme Court.

If elected president, Senator John McCain, an opponent of legalized abortion and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, would have the power to appoint new judges as court vacancies occurred, and would be likely to choose a pro-life judge.

The anti-abortion groups were active over the weekend with protests. One group wove dozens of long-stemmed white and red roses into a security fence on the perimeter of the Pepsi Centre, according to a police officer stationed at the fence.

The flowers remained there, wilting in the high altitude sunshine through the early week as delegates and journalists walked by.

The Democratic convention opened on Monday evening in Denver, Colorado. On Thursday, US Senator Barack Obama will accept the nomination before a stadium crowd of 76,000, becoming the first African-American to win a major-party presidential nomination.

In a separate, possibly more serious incident, federal police said early on Tuesday they had arrested three men in connection with what authorities believe could have been a threat against Obama.

But later, investigators said no serious threat had been posed.