Denver Occupiers Storm Conservative Blogger Conference, 1 Arrested

More than a dozen Denver Occupiers staged an invasion of the conservative blogger conference, BlogCon 2011, in downtown Denver Friday afternoon. At least one man was led away in handcuffs.

In addition to harassing radio host Tony Katz during a live broadcast, the man arrested also reportedly shoved a police officer who was trying to clear the lobby of the Crowne Plaza hotel, where the conference was being held.

Below are videos of the man interrupting Katz's radio broadcast and subsequent arrest:

The disruption came as no surprise to attendees, however, as Occupy Denver had been advertising their intention to ambush the conference on Twitter.

The Denver Post adds:

Tabitha Hale, new media director of the conference, said Blogcon was prepared for the onslaught and had purchased Milk Bones earlier in the day for Occupy Denver's elected leader, a 3-year-old Border Collie named Shelby.

'We've known they were coming for a couple of days," she said.

The disruption began around 2 p.m. during a data visualization seminar in one of the ballrooms. A few of the protesters tried to charge the ballroom doors to get inside. There was shoving and pushing, Hale said.

But people attending the conference had already started to notice unusual activity by a number of people in the hotel's lobby and they began to film them, said Peter Michael Dominic Ingemi, a talk show host.

"They started bantering back and forth," he said. "We all had video. They were filming us and we were filming them."

The Occupiers screamed, "We are the 99 percent" to which the Blogcon attendees replied, "We want the dog!"

"They tend to blame us because they think we are running the world," Hale said. "They shoved and pushed a few people ...it was rough. I was not expecting them to charge us. I don't know if they are coming back."

Earlier in the day, Denver police spoke with protesters who have been sleeping in Civic Center for the past month.

Officers handed out flyers explaining that their property was violating a city ordinance and blocking the right of way for public works.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson did not know what items were in violation or where they were causing a problem in the park.

About 25 people removed their property and some left the park.

Below is additional footage from BlogCon, including a clip featuring a teacher who brought her students along with her to storm the conference:

(h/t: Gateway Pundit, HotAir, YidwithLid)