The New Mexico Independent’s Matthew Reichbach will be reporting live from the Democratic National Convention in Denver all week.

DENVER — The convention had not officially kicked off before the protesters began to have their voices heard.

On the 16th Street Mall in Denver, a popular area of Denver’s LoDo, or Lower Downtown, two separate groups of Iraq war protesters made their voices heard. Code Pink shut down part of the 16th Street Mall area for about ten minutes until they were dispersed by police.

Coming the other way on the street were the Iraq Veterans Against the War. The group of Iraq veterans marched in the opposite direction on the sidewalk, chanting to applause from the spectators both on the sidewalk and dining on the patio of cafes on the street.

The Code Pink protesters stopped traffic while singing, "All we are saying, is give peace a chance," echoing the famous Beatles song from nearly 40 years ago. The riot police facing the Code Pink protesters had non-violent weapons in their hands, but never pointed them anywhere besides the ground. Some of the Code Pink protesters took the statement "Make out not war" to heart during the singing.

The police seemed more amused than threatened by the non-violent protesters.

The Iraq Veterans for the War, on the other hand, stayed on the sidewalk while they showed their displeasure for the war in Iraq.

The protests were just a precursor for things to come. Swing State of Mind saw a slightly more serious protest on the same street later in the afternoon. The protests are expected to become more serious as the week progresses and the convention actually begins.