So rights can be exercised, Denver officials are in the final stages of priming a First Amendment ultra-marathon for protesters outside next week’s Democratic National Convention.Tens of thousands of people are expected to flood downtown parks and streets, most aligned with one cause or another.Groups are expected to hold rallies and march in parades.The bulk of the action is scheduled to start Saturday and run through the evening of Aug. 28, when Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to accept the Democratic nomination.”This is the biggest thing the city has had to coordinate for the city,” said Kevin Scott, Denver’s event and film liaison who for the past six months has coordinated permits for the vendors and protesters who will put on the show outside of the show at the DNC.From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. the week of the convention, parades will run from Bannock Street to Colfax Avenue and end on Speer Boulevard in front of the Pepsi Center, the convention’s site. Scott said the route can handle 10,000 people marching every 45 minutes.Groups that won a city-run lottery for permitted space in one of the 14 city parks, including Civic Center Park and Centennial Gardens, will rally in the parks.”The main thing is, we wanted to be fair and up-front,” Scott said. “That’s why we had the open lottery.”Among the loudest of protest groups planning events is a coalition called The Recreate ’68 Alliance, a DNC version of the Denver-based group The All Nations Alliance.Though the Recreate ’68 name has been linked to the violence at the 1968 convention in Chicago, the organizers say the name reflects the “spirit of participatory democracy” that culminated in 1968.The group’s intentions were originally couched as militantly protesting issues from war to global warming, even distributing on its Web site a handbook for using shields in formation in marching against police.That tone has softened, with the activists saying they are against violence and only want to protest peacefully.The Alliance for Real Democracy, a spinoff group from Recreate ’68, will also have a presence, as will an anti-abortion alliance made up by the Christian Defense Coalition and Survivors that expects at least 1,000 out-of-state protesters to show up for the cause.The Raelian Movement will march on its belief that Earthly life was created in extraterrestrials’ laboratories.In addition to planning routes for the participants, city officials are setting up a makeshift jail that could house those that law enforcement sees as crossing the line.After news of the jail – a city-owned warehouse in northeast Denver reportedly fitted with wire cages topped by barbed wire – broke last week, city officials said food, bathrooms, phones and medical staff will be available at the facility.People who are detained will be able to meet with their attorneys.”We welcome everybody and respect their First Amendment rights,” said Sonny Jackson, spokesman for the Denver Police Department.”We’re hoping it will go smoothly.”Fifty-six Colorado Springs Police Department officers will help Denver during the convention, though neither organization will disclose what role those officers will serve.”Our officers are going to work for our supervisors doing something to assist Denver,” said Lt. David Whitlock, CSPD spokesman.Whitlock did confirm Springs officers will not be “out on the front lines” of crowd control.

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