RNC Day 2 - Police, Militiamen, Alex Jones, & Anarchists

Cleveland, OH – Protests during Day two of the Republican National Convention began with a banner drop done by climate justice activists who climbed flagpoles outside the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Several people were arrested after descending from the flagpoles.

Activists Arrested At RNC After Banner Drop Against Fracking, Border Wall https://t.co/0REtVmLXpk #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/y8FHWnsmNk

— Firedoglake (@firedoglake) July 19, 2016

Public Square in downtown Cleveland was filled with differing opinions on day two of the Republican National Convention. Several different groups and individuals practicing open-carry brought automatic weapons and posed with them.

We were LIVE during the afternoon.

8 West Ohio Minutemen walking around Public Square w AR-15s, an Eastern Bloc made AK-47 & sidearms #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/fIkGXJdh9v

— UNICORN RIOT (@UR_Ninja) July 19, 2016

Police splitting the crowd in public square at #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/8JhfxHf7Oy

— Unicorn Riot (@UR_Ninja) July 19, 2016

Crowd and energy growing in Public Square as opposing groups are split by police https://t.co/3hddgOMoqZ #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/tLEgNlMTHD

— UNICORN RIOT (@UR_Ninja) July 19, 2016

The security around Public Square was a who’s who of alphabet agencies and police from across the country.

More heavily armed police have arrived at public square #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/r51Dik7AP4

— UNICORN RIOT (@UR_Ninja) July 19, 2016

After hours of peaceful protests from a multitude of opposing groups, Alex Jones arrived with a bullhorn and began confronting a crowd who he called “anti-American communists.” A small scuffle broke out after Alex Jones seemingly threw himself into the crowd of protesters chanting “Nazi scum off of our streets.” The police immediately sent in multiple squads of police to break up the scuffle. Alex Jones was then escorted out from the crowd by dozens of armed police and away from the scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V6tD_ChC2Q

https://twitter.com/rousseau_ist/status/755493442399133696

As opposing groups began to directly interact in Public Square, the police split the groups in half using their power in numbers and utilizing their bikes as weapons to push people, mostly press, back from their newly created lines.

After the police segmented the crowd in Public Square, people pushed across the street spontaneously began a roving street march. For about two hours, dozens of protesters-including anarchists and other unaffiliated radicals – led police on a cat and mouse chase downtown – racing to get through intersections before bike officers could form a line, and at one point running through a parking garage to avoid being caged in by police maneuvers.

This unpermitted march appeared to be one of the first deviations from the scripted norm of RNC protests thus far, in which official organizations putting on events collaborate with police in creating the march route.

We were live during the un-permitted street march:

https://twitter.com/UR_Ninja/status/755522616958578688

The march was continually surrounded by police bike lines and was generally surrounded on three sides at all times. Eventually the police declared the march an unlawful assembly, and ordered people present to disperse around a certain route. Most marchers eventually turned around the way they came and dispersed, with apparently no arrests made.

Below is our LIVE coverage of Day 2 at the RNC: