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Videos from Civic Center show park was left a mess overnight after 4/20 event

Videos recorded by city security cameras in Civic Center show that cleanup activities following the large 4/20 celebration late Thursday night left plenty of trash strewn about the park.

The clips, provided to The Denver Post by police in response to a public records request, show that organizers, volunteers and a hired cleanup crew didn’t make much headway after the pro-marijuana event ended around 8 p.m. and vendors cleared out of the park in the hours afterward.

In a few locations, including the Greek Amphitheater and the center plaza of the park, videos time-stamped around 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. showed similar amounts of trash on the ground as videos taken of the same places on Friday morning, between 5 a.m. and  7 a.m.

Greek atrium at Civic Center Park

Provided by Denver Police Department

A video still from a camera at the Greek atrium at Civic Center Park shows the scene at 10:08 p.m. April 20, 2017 (top) and 5:19 a.m. April 21, 2017 (bottom).

Rally organizer Miguel Lopez said Friday that some complications had arisen Thursday night, including people visiting the park and rummaging through trash bags while the sparse crews were trying to cleanup.

At another point, police confirmed, crews reported one of those people pulling a pocket knife on them about 10:45 p.m.

Lopez said cleanup crews were asked to leave by midnight Thursday, at Denver police’s request, after being told the park was closed to everyone.

Street sweepers at 14th and Cherokee

Provided by Denver Police Department

A video still from a street camera shows street sweepers near 14th Avenue and Cherokee Street in Denver at 12:31 a.m. April 21, 2017.

That meant 14th Avenue still had plenty of trash on it, according to one surveillance video that showed city street-sweepers arriving about 12:30 a.m. They gathered the trash into piles on the asphalt for sweeping to ensure that the street could be reopened to traffic by morning rush hour.

Another complication: At a couple points overnight, the video clips showed people who might be homeless again rummaging through trash. That and the wind may have spread some piles.

The result of the slow cleanup was a flare-up in the long-simmering tension the 4/20 organizers have had with city officials for the annual event — even though this year’s permit gave them another full day, until 11:59 p.m. Friday, to finish clearing the park of trash.

When Denver woke Friday to piles and piles of refuse covering Civic Center, images quickly spread via social media and caught media outlets’ attention. The garbage was mostly concentrated around trash cans and appeared to have been pulled out of bags and boxes that had been emptied and tossed aside.

City workers took photos of the trash piles in the morning as people walking to their offices picked their way through the mess, some stopping to stare and take their own pictures.