Thousands of Denverites flooded into Denver's Civic Center Park — and just about every nook and cranny around it — for a rally hosted by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday, March 21.
Kevin J. Beaty/Denverite
The park was filled long before the progressive leaders took the mic for their "Fighting Oligarchy" tour in the early evening.
Earlier in the day, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez spoke in Greeley before more than 11,000 people.
Denver has been preparing for the rally all week, estimating that at least 20,000 attendees would show up.
When Ocasio-Cortez took the stage, she said early estimates counted 30,000 in the crowd. By the time Sanders addressed the crowd, estimates had been raised to 34,000, which Sanders said was the biggest crowd he has attracted in a long career that has included literally hundreds of rallies.
Eloise Goldsmith, writing for the nonprofit news site Common Dreams, described the messages Sanders and Ocasio-Cortex delivered to the Denver throngs:
"Sanders, an Independent, wrote on social media on Friday that the turnout is a sign that "the American people will not allow Trump to move us into oligarchy and authoritarianism. We will fight back. We will win."
"According to Anna Bahr, Sanders' communications director, the senator's largest rally prior to Denver took place in Brooklyn, New York in 2016, when he was running for president.
"Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, wrote online that 'something special is happening... Working people are ready to stand together and fight for our democracy. Thank you Colorado!.'
"At the rally, which took place at Denver's Civic Center Park, the two lawmakers hit on the same themes they spoke about in Arizona.
"''The American people are saying loud and clear, we will not accept an oligarchic form of society,' Sanders said, according to Colorado Public Radio. 'We will not accept the richest guy in the world running all over Washington, making cuts to the Social Security Administration, cuts to the Veterans Administration, almost destroying the Department of Education—all so that they could give over a trillion dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest 1%.'
"'If you don't know your neighbor, it's easier to turn on them,' said Ocasio-Cortez, per CPR. 'That's why they want to keep us separated, alone, and apart. Scrolling on our phones thinking that the person next to us is some kind of enemy, but they're not.'
"Sanders launched his Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here tour in February, with the aim of talking to Americans about the 'takeover of the national government by billionaires and large corporations, and the country's move toward authoritarianism.'"
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