In Cleveland, peaceful protests, pink togas - and prepping for DNC
CLEVELAND - In the end, Scott Williams was the only one in his crew to get here. The Philadelphia activists had spent months planning a march meant to "shut down the Democratic National Convention," and had decided to attend its counterpart in Cleveland, "Shut Down Trump and the RNC." But with a week to go, there was too much left to do in Philadelphia, so Williams boarded a minivan for Ohio by himself Saturday night.
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CLEVELAND - In the end, Scott Williams was the only one in his crew to get here.
The Philadelphia activists had spent months planning a march meant to "shut down the Democratic National Convention," and had decided to attend its counterpart in Cleveland, "Shut Down Trump and the RNC." But with a week to go, there was too much left to do in Philadelphia, so Williams boarded a minivan for Ohio by himself Saturday night.
By Sunday afternoon, he was among hundreds of protesters arriving here, many of whom - like the Republican delegates - came from across the country.
Squinting in the sun on Euclid Avenue, preparing to march on the Republican National Convention, Williams said it was important for him to make the seven-hour drive. A native of Durham, N.C., he teaches high school in Philadelphia and has been protesting on behalf of progressive causes since his own high school days.
"We're protesting both the RNC and the DNC because we feel that both parties have nothing to offer," Williams said.
Moments later, he and several hundred other protesters made their way into the street, a phalanx of police officers on bicycles riding alongside them.
One day before the GOP convention begins in earnest, Cleveland braced for unrest. Bike cops in padded body armor joined the protest route. Mounted police guarded the enormous fences that cordon off the Quicken Loans Arena, where the convention is being held.
But as thousands of Clevelanders attended a nearby event called "Circle the City With Love," Sunday's march was peaceful. Protesters yelling through bullhorns, waving signs, and chanting filed past lines of dozens of officers and proceeded through downtown's largely empty streets.
That was deliberate, organizers said: "We wanted to do the best we could to keep a very sharp political focus," said Loan Tran, 21, who plans to be in Philadelphia next week for protests when the Democrats meet.
Demonstrators chanted the names of black men and women killed by police, and of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old shot to death in 2014 by a Cleveland officer. Some yelled "Free Palestine"; decried money in politics; or shouted support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights. Chants also were aimed at the presumptive nominee.
"No Trump, no KKK, no fascism in USA," went one. Another: "Dump, Dump, Donald Trump!"
Tran, of Durham, N.C., and Williams said organizers had worried about turnout as fears mounted over potential violence here. Police were on edge, too; the Cleveland police union asked for a temporary ban on carrying guns in the downtown area after the killing of three officers Sunday in Baton Rouge.
Still, hundreds gathered near Cleveland State University on Sunday to march. The feminist antiwar group Code Pink showed up in bright pink togas and Statue of Liberty crowns.
Native Americans carried a flag that read "Indigenous Resistance Since 1492." Speakers bashed Trump's immigration stances in Spanish. Naomi Zikmund-Fisher, of Ann Arbor, Mich., attended her first convention protest with a sign that read, "Jews Against Trump: We've Seen This Before."
Zikmund-Fisher spoke of Trump's call for banning Muslim immigrants. "We have to be on the side of people who are targeted for their religion," she said.
A group wore Guy Fawkes masks, the uniform of the hacker collective Anonymous. The perennial fringe-party candidate Vermin Supreme walked at the front of the crowd with a rain boot on his head and a pool noodle in his hand. Delegates on the sidewalk snapped pictures.
The march made its way to Lakeside Drive, still almost a mile from the convention site, where the security fences intersect at right angles and there was nowhere left to march. Police ringed the crowd - Cleveland officers; state police; even the California Highway Patrol, one of dozens of outside agencies recruited to help safeguard the convention. "One male arrested for attempting to take an officer's gas mask, 6:40 p.m.," Cleveland police tweeted.
"We're a little outnumbered," a protest speaker said as the march wrapped up. "It is very important that we stay in the streets," another said. Marchers were to meet again Monday.
Slowly, the mounted police moved forward, pushing the last stragglers off Lakeside. Williams gathered signs and checked in with friends as delegates whisked past the fences, off to a soiree in the secure zone. He was headed home soon, with much left to do.
"I think," he said, "we can have just as much of a success in Philadelphia."
@aubreyjwhelan 215-854-2961