{"id":51255,"date":"2020-10-02T01:17:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-02T07:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-city-council-responds-to-confrontation-at-protest\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:55:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:55:25","slug":"cortez-city-council-responds-to-confrontation-at-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-city-council-responds-to-confrontation-at-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez City Council responds to confrontation at protest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"EMILY
EMILY HAYES\/The Journal<br><br>A member of the Walk for Justice and Peace holds a sign that says \u201cLove Will Prevail\u201d during a walk early in August on Main Street in Cortez.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Cortez City Council reaffirmed the right of all citizens to assemble peacefully and exercise free speech in a civil manner in an official statement released Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The statement was made in response to a confrontation that occurred on Main Street on Saturday evening. Several people, including members of the Montezuma County Patriots, joined a counterprotest against the Walk for Justice and Peace, crossing Main Street and confronting walkers face to face.<\/p>\n

Justice and Peace walkers remained silent, holding signs and continuing to walk along Main Street as counterprotesters followed them, shouting \u201cGo home\u201d and \u201cYou don\u2019t belong in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its statement, the city of Cortez reminded citizens to be \u201crespectful of others\u2019 right to exercise their free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCortez is home to a diverse group of individuals and groups with many different beliefs and interests,\u201d the statement reads. City Council said expressing beliefs should be \u201cdone so in a civil and lawful way, while respecting the businesses and residences in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several business owners contacted the mayor with complaints that the confrontation Saturday deterred customers from their restaurants and stores, which have been hit financially by the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The statement also praised the Cortez Police Department for its professionalism and \u201ccommitment to serving the public and allowing voices to be heard safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raleigh Marmorstein, an organizer of the Walk for Justice and Peace, called a nonemergency dispatch number to alert the police as phrases from the counterprotesters turned threatening and included obscenities on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s take this difficult time to come together as a community, listen to each other and learn from one another,\u201d the City Council wrote in its statement.<\/p>\n

Reactions from demonstration organizers<\/div>\n

Tiffany Ghere, a co-organizer of the Montezuma County Patriot rides, said in a phone interview with The Journal she was glad the City Council released a statement that it is everyone\u2019s First Amendment right to exercise free speech.<\/p>\n

She clarified Tuesday that the confrontation Saturday evening was not an event organized by the Patriots.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no laws broken to begin with,\u201d Ghere said. Swear words are \u201cnot exactly tactful, but it\u2019s not against the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tensions are high right now, but that \u201cdoesn\u2019t justify\u201d using obscene language, Ghere said. \u201cI\u2019m glad the city is staying neutral \u2013 they have to represent the community as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marmorstein of the Walk for Justice and Peace said in a phone interview with The Journal the statement from City Council was a good start, but it \u201cdoes not go far enough to condemn hate speech or bullying behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Threatening language targeted at Dawn Robertson, another organizer of the Walk for Justice and Peace, including \u201cGo back to Boston, and if you come back, you will be in trouble,\u201d goes too far for Marmorstein.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a threat that puts her life in danger. When your speech infringes on the rights or life of others, it is not protected,\u201d she said, adding later that \u201csafety in general is being compromised.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Walk for Justice and Peace on Saturday, Robertson was followed by a truck with about six flags on it.<\/p>\n

The driver of the truck recognized Robertson, and Robertson recognized the driver as one of the counterprotesters, she told The Journal Thursday.<\/p>\n

The truck then made a U-turn at the corner of South Elm Street and West North Street and followed Robertson in her car for a few turns, Robertson said.<\/p>\n

The Cortez Police Department is aware of the incident.<\/p>\n

In the presidential debate Tuesday night, President Donald Trump avoided condemning white supremacy directly when moderator and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace asked him to do so. Actions like this at the national level \u201chave real implications when we stand in the street,\u201d Marmorstein said.<\/p>\n

The mayor and the city are trying, she said. But City Council should say that \u201cpeople of all races and religions matter and belong here,\u201d Marmorstein said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have ultimate respect for police for engaging in a larger conversation,\u201d Marmorstein said. \u201cThe chief and the lieutenant are doing an amazing job of keeping people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

ehayes@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council asks for respect and civility<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-51255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51255"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87929,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51255\/revisions\/87929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51255"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=51255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}