After the Dallas shooting, Cleveland increased security.
Via US News:
Activists marched illegally down streets, fought with one another and defied a downtown tennis ball ban Tuesday during the second day of the Republican National Convention. But as the excitement unfolded, some activist leaders wondered where the crowds were.
Cleveland has seen far smaller protests than those at other recent conventions, despite the nomination of Donald Trump eliciting a rage from progressives that rivals or exceeds their hatred of former President George W. Bush. In a further distinction, it has also seen very few activism-related arrests.
“Look, I’ll say this: It’s not a good thing people aren’t here in a bigger force when an openly fascistic candidate is being nominated,” says Noche Diaz, who served as spokesman for the day’s highest profile march, which promoted revolutionary communism and the jailing of “killer cops.”
“Why? I don’t know all the reasons, you’ll have to ask them,” Diaz said after the hourlong march by about two dozen protesters, a greater number of reporters and likely even more law enforcement officers, who rode bicycles alongside and behind the group.
“Slavery, genocide and war, America was never great!” the group chanted as they walked past Republican convention-goers, one of whom shouted that they should consider moving to another country.
Nearby, members of the feminist peace group Code Pink handed out tennis balls, which are specifically prohibited within a 1.7 square mile event zone around the main convention venues. Police seized those they could.
“They did get taken away, but we gave away hundreds of them first!” says Alli McCracken, a leading member of the organization. “We expected to get arrested, but we didn’t.”
McCracken says she’s not sure why relatively few people showed up to protest in Cleveland, but she believes many were scared off by Ohio’s open carry laws, which allow people to carry firearms — despite the ban on tennis balls and aluminum cans — near the convention.[…]
Hermes says the guild, which has many volunteers actively monitoring protests and a hotline for arrestees, is aware of just one afternoon arrest — of a person who allegedly threw a punch during the fracas involving Jones at the square.
But he says even if police aren’t arresting people, their presence can be objectionable.
If you are in downtown Cleveland you can literally throw a rock and hit a police [officer]. It’s very intimidating,” he says. “It certainly is chilling for First Amendment rights.”
Though the rage Trump inspires among his opponents is unlikely to dim, it’s unclear if progressive activists will see an uptick in participation in demonstrations as it becomes clear mass arrests and gun-involved violence are not happening.
HT: Louisiana Mom