Amid tense moments and clashing views, peaceful protests mark Day 1 of RNC

CLEVELAND - As delegates gathered behind miles of high-security fences for the first day of the Republican National Convention, hundreds of protesters took to the streets, shadowed by hundreds of police officers.

But despite a few moments of tension downtown as far left and right rubbed elbows, demonstrations remained peaceful. Two marches Monday were the largest the city has seen this week. Meanwhile, on the banks of the Cuyahoga River, a group called "America First" held an hours-long rally in support of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

When the two sides met, Cleveland police whisked bicycles and mounted officers between them in an effort to defuse tensions. Protesters who traveled from an afternoon "Stop Trump" march to the riverbank rally traded words with Trump supporters across police lines.

Demonstrators on a wide pedestrian mall drowned out an anti-Muslim protest. In the morning, the Council for American-Islamic Relations handed out breath mints on that mall labeled "Islamophobin: Multi-symptom relief for chronic Islamophobia."

And hundreds gathered in a field miles from the convention center for a rally against poverty before marching through neighborhoods to downtown's Perk Park, named for a Republican mayor.

Among the marchers on the front line was a contingent from Philadelphia, for which the GOP convention protests are serving as a dress rehearsal for next week's Democratic National Convention. The longtime Philadelphia activist Cheri Honkala and several members of her Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign slept on a church floor here Sunday night and took the stage at the rally to encourage the crowd to march in Philadelphia in a week.

"We are going to create a new American spring," Honkala said.

Then, after a performance by the rap/metal supergroup Prophets of Rage - and a brief spat about who got to march in front - Honkala and company and about 300 others headed downtown.

A few miles away, bikers bedecked in American flag bandannas revved engines as they arrived at the riverfront Trump rally. Several attendees openly carried guns, as is legal in Ohio. Later, a procession of men in camouflage with rifles slung across their backs filed through the streets. Members of a group called Bikers for Trump said they were in town to "keep the peace" should violence arise.

But on this day, at least, none did. Attendees at the Trump rally sat in lawn chairs and cheered tea party candidates. They clapped for a teenage Russian immigrant (here legally, an emcee said) who sang a self-penned song about Trump called "Make America Great Again (Political Correctness)." They bought "Truckers for Trump" T-shirts for their dogs and "Hillary for Prison" shirts for themselves.

"I'll be honest: I'm not a big Trump fan," said Pete Bryan, a Biker for Trump from Dayton. "He's kind of an obnoxious loudmouth." But he preferred Trump to Hillary Clinton, he said, so he rode his bike to the riverfront Monday.

Many of the antipoverty marchers were not thrilled with Clinton, either. "The whole damn system is guilty as hell," they chanted. Some said they planned to demonstrate in Philadelphia next week, as Honkala had urged.

"It was good for us to come," she said. "Not just for fellowship, but to assess how the police are handling things."

Bicycle cops have been on hand at virtually every protest here, riding on either side and blocking off streets to better guide marchers through the city. Cleveland police said that "a few arrests" were made Sunday and one more by Monday evening, and that they had confiscated gas masks, a slingshot, and a small knife in the secure zone.

At Perk Park, having walked two miles in the blazing sun, Larry Bressler, one of the antipoverty march's organizers, said turnout was lower than expected - "There's not a question that the attendance we did have could have been much more if there wasn't all the violence concerns." But he said he was pleased that the focus had been on "the shame of poverty in the United States."

As the day's protests and rallies wore on, Trump supporters and their anti-Trump counterparts seemed to marvel that it was all happening here in Cleveland as the world was watching. As the Trump rally by the river kicked off, Mark Sipols, a Biker for Trump, pointed at the clean waters. "This," he said proudly, "is the river that caught on fire!" (The once-polluted Cuyahoga has burst into flames about 13 times since 1898.)

Then he excused himself, gasping in awe. Among the pack of reporters headed for the bikers was Geraldo Rivera. "I can't believe this," Sipols said, whipping out his phone for a picture.

In Perk Park, at the end of the march on poverty, a man who gave his name only as William wiped sweat from his brow and smiled for photos with his sign: "Trump Hates Kittens."

"Our political system is basically a joke anyway," he said. "But I hope people don't forget about Cleveland. There's a lot of good here."

awhelan@phillynesws.com

@aubreyjwhelan 215-854-2961