Denver protestors are being treated like political prisoners (except for the 'prisoners' part)

DENVER — Demonstrators at the Democratic convention are furious at efforts to corral them into a fenced-off zone a safe distance from the Pepsi Centre, separated from conventiongoers by metal and concrete barriers, and many are boycotting it. "We're being treated by the city of Denver and the Secret Service like political prisoners," a seething Mark Cohen, organiser of the activist umbrella group Recreate 68, told reporters. But there were reasons to doubt the appropriateness of Mr Cohen's comparison of himself to a dissenter being held in jail by a totalitarian regime. He and his wife planned to visit the fenced-off area and "stay [there] for just a couple of minutes to state our disgust with this abomination, the way the city and Secret Service are tearing the constitution of the United States to shreds," he explained. "And then we will leave."