This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/22/us/politics/protests-trump-cleveland.html

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 3 Version 4
Trump Protesters Gather as His Big Night Nears Outside the Hall, Protesters Keep the Peace
(about 2 hours later)
CLEVELAND — A coalition of protesters opposed to Donald J. Trump marched from a historic bridge in Cleveland into the heart of the city’s downtown on Thursday, seizing on the final day of the Republican National Convention to vent their frustrations and accuse Mr. Trump of posing a danger to the country’s future. CLEVELAND — The final evening of the Republican National Convention passed with little tumult among protesters and the police, capping a week in which predictions of wide-scale unrest on the streets were well off the mark.
The protest was organized by Stand Together Against Trump, a political action committee formed after it became apparent that Mr. Trump would become the Republican Party nominee. While the city’s public protesting hubs were hardly empty — it was still a national political convention — there was little evidence as the night neared its end that the nomination of Donald J. Trump had prompted any unusual flaring of the violence and fractiousness that has at times pocked his campaign rallies.
“I’m against Trump because of all the remarks he has made about women, about Mexicans, about disabled people,” Doreen Suzich, 57, of Cleveland, said as protesters gathered. “He is spreading hate and making people turn against each other.” As Mr. Trump prepared to deliver his acceptance speech inside the Quicken Loans Arena, the mood among protesters nearby was actually festive.
The group marched from the Hope Memorial Bridge over the Cuyahoga River into the center of the city, and by afternoon demonstrators had begun filling Public Square. At 9 p.m., more than 100 people marched around the perimeter of a public square chanting “love trumps hate,” as clusters of police officers stood in groups, chatting, more relaxed than they had been earlier in the day.
There, a fundamentalist religious group denounced homosexuality; members of the Industrial Workers of the World, waving red and black flags and singing “Solidarity Forever,” denounced capitalism; and various members of the crowd rebuked the I.W.W. protesters, chanting “U.S.A.” Some people frolicked among the water jets in the middle of the square. Others paraded around them, forming a conga line and dancing to drums and tambourines.
Hundreds of police officers have kept close guard on the demonstrations this week, using their bicycles and horses as a means of crowd control, as other officers kept apart opposing groups of protesters so that arguments did not flare into violence. By the time Mr. Trump took the stage over an hour later, the square was largely bare. Most of the remaining protesters had moved to a nearby grassy area, where some watched a feed of the speech on their cellphones, listening through headphones.
The tensest exchange between the police and protesters unfolded Wednesday afternoon when officers arrested 18 people after an American flag was burned near the site of the convention. Soon after the flag was set aflame, the police called for assistance and officers, swarming the area on foot, bicycle and horseback, began handcuffing demonstrators. Several protesters acknowledged that the demonstrations had not drawn the numbers that many had expected. But Jake Ellis, 25, from Oxford, Ohio, said that he thought the protests had served a purpose.
Many of those arrested on Wednesday were members or supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Party, U.S.A., and wore black T-shirts with red and orange lettering that read, “Revolution — Nothing less!” “I think the conversations we had with people made them think,” he said, wearing a “Black Lives Matter” button and carrying a sign that read, “Make America Hate Again.”
The Cleveland Police Department said on Wednesday evening that some of those arrested were charged with felonies, while most faced misdemeanor charges, including failure to disperse, inciting violence and assault. The week was not entirely tension-free. Hundreds of police officers have kept close guard on the demonstrations this week, using their bicycles and horses as a means of crowd control, as other officers kept apart opposing groups of protesters so that arguments did not flare into violence.
The most striking encounter unfolded Wednesday afternoon, when officers arrested 18 people after some of them burned an American flag near the site of the convention. Soon after the flag was set aflame, the police called for assistance and officers, swarming the area on foot, bicycle and horseback, began handcuffing demonstrators.
On Thursday, there appeared to be few major run-ins.
Hours before Mr. Trump took the stage, throngs of marchers filled the heart of downtown Cleveland, accusing Mr. Trump of posing a danger to the country’s future.
One of the largest protests was organized by Stand Together Against Trump, a political action committee formed after it became apparent that Mr. Trump would become the Republican Party nominee.
“I’m against Trump because of all the remarks he has made about women, about Mexicans, about disabled people,” Doreen Suzich, 57, from Cleveland, said as protesters gathered. “He is spreading hate and making people turn against each other.”