Chief Ron Thomas refused to dismantle the demonstration, which he said was very peaceful, for a second time. He said “there is no legal way” for officers to dismantle the demonstration “unless they do something that creates an unlawful assembly. We are absolutely not going to go in and sweep out this peaceful protest just because they are occupying a space on your campus that you would like to use for something else right now and because of your fears that maybe this could grow to the point where it interferes with other campus activities.”

In 2020, following police assaults on demonstrations protesting the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the city was ordered to pay millions of dollars to demonstrators after a decision was made that the assault amounted to an unconstitutional response and excessive use of force.

Thomas noted that since these payouts were made, there have been changes in the Denver police’s approach to crowd control. (Denver Post, May 4). His statement, however, provides no guarantee that the university administration or the police will find no pretext for police intervention.