Police fire tear gas, rubber bullet at Colorado Springs war protest

Police fire tear gas, rubber bullet at Colorado Springs war protest

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Police fired tear gas at anti-war demonstrators and hit at least one with a rubber bullet after a rally spilled out of a park and blocked a major thoroughfare Saturday.

At least two people were treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released after the rally at Palmer Park. Thirteen people were arrested after they forced the closure of a half-mile stretch of Academy Boulevard, police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms said.

A second rally at Peterson Air Force Base ended with 21 arrests but no tear gas. Peterson is home to the Northern Command, the joint military command in charge of homeland security.

Arms said one person who picked up a tear gas canister and threw it toward police was hit with a .40-caliber rubberized bullet and subdued with a stun gun. Arms had initially denied reports that anyone was hit by a rubber bullets.

The demonstrators were protesting the threatened U.S. strike on Iraq. Police did not provide crowd estimates, but KVOR radio in Colorado Springs reported that about 3,000 people attended the Palmer Park rally and 300 turned out at Peterson.