By Kristen Wyatt, Associated Press
Police protests were calm and lightly attended Monday in Denver, where a group of about 150 waved signs decrying police killings while a smaller group entered a fourth day of quietly mourning blacks killed by police in the last year.
The demonstrations outside the state Capitol attracted a mixed-race crowd and supporters bringing water, fruit and sandwiches to protesters. A handful of police stood watch from about a block away.
"I'm tired of seeing my people getting murdered, slaughtered like animals, on TV," said Princess Greene of Denver, 39, who held a sign decrying police brutality
The Denver observations were a marked contrast from charged police protests in some cities. None of the protesters attempted to block the streets during a busy lunchtime hour. Instead the protesters kept to a park to wave signs and mourn.
A group called Black Lives Matter 5280 had about a dozen mourners sitting under a tree a few hundred yards away. The group planned to observe 135 hours of mourning in honor of every black person they count as dying at the hands of police in the last year.
"As a black man, I cannot ignore the movement," said one of the mourners, Emmanuel Williams of Denver. "I thought the protest would be much more of an in-your-face, clash kind of thing, but it's been very positive."
Some Black Lives Matter 5280 mourners said they'd been heckled by some white passers-by. But there were no reports of arrests or injuries connected to the Denver observations.
Black Lives Matter 5280 organized the observation in response to the shootings of black men in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Falcon Heights, Minnesota. They planned to continue their observation through Wednesday.
