October 21, 2008
Posted: October 21st, 2008 03:09 AM ET
From CNN's Steve Brusk (CNN) - Several protesters tried to block the motorcade of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in Grand Junction, Colorado on Monday afternoon, but police dragged them out of the way in a dramatic encounter. The incident - just feet from the car carrying Palin - was captured on video by CNN affiliate KKCO-TV. Eight to 10 protesters broke away from a larger group of demonstrators and darted into the street in front of Palin's car just after the first police motorcycles in her motorcade had passed, said Acting Chief Troy Smith of the Grand Junction Police Department. Wearing bandanas and with faces covered, they blocked the path and held up a large banner. Officers in the motorcade stopped their motorcycles, and grabbed protesters, dragging several out of the path of the oncoming motorcade.
At least two demonstrators were tackled and forced to the ground before being pulled away. One officer fell backwards into the path of an approaching vehicle but he was able to get out of the way in time. Palin's vehicle passed without a problem as other protesters chanted on the sidewalk, about a block from a site where Palin had addressed a rally. Smith said officers saved the protesters from injury because "the motorcade likely would not have stopped" for them. He said "we don't know what their intentions were" in trying to block Palin's motorcade. Investigators in Grand Junction are reviewing videotapes to try to identify suspects in an "active criminal investigation," Smith said. The Secret Service is not involved in the investigation, he said. The protesters were members of a group called "Red Pill," Smith said. A Web site that carried an announcement of the group's planned protest urged supporters to show Palin "that we as a community say no to war, no to corporate cronyism, and no to four more years of Bush-style leadership." It Filed under: Sarah Palin |
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