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Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. | Getty GOP: Orlando attack justifies Cleveland security limits

The deadly Orlando nightclub shooting and campaign-trail attacks on Donald Trump's supporters at campaign events demonstrate the need for protest limits and other security measures in the vicinity of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month, GOP officials told a federal judge Monday.

"The recent attacks against soft targets in San Bernardino and Orlando underscore the importance of taking substantial and comprehensive security measures to protect the safety and well-being of all Convention attendees," convention CEO Jeff Larson wrote.

"Additionally, protesters in several major cities have recently targeted the supporters of presumptive Republican nominee Donald J. Trump, committing violent acts that resulted in serious injuries to supporters. It is therefore of the utmost importance to [convention planners] that, during Convention week, any item that could be used as a weapon be prohibited in the Event Zone," Larson added.

Last week, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the City of Cleveland, claiming that plans for the convention were likely to abridge the First Amendment rights of demonstrators. Plaintiffs in the case include a national pro-Trump organization, Citizens for Trump, the liberal coalition Organize Ohio, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.

The suit challenges restrictions on parade routes available to demonstrators, as well as the breadth of security restrictions in the 3.3-square-mile security zone.

In a filing Monday with U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin, the Republican National Committee's Committee on Arrangements for the conventions asked to intervene in the case in order to defend the protest limits and security procedures.

GOP officials contend that the opportunities for demonstrations at the 2016 convention in Cleveland are more robust than at Democratic conventions in 2004 and 2008, as well as both major party conventions in 2000.

The city has designated a parade route through the convention zone, but is limiting use of the streets for such purposes to five hours a day: between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Authorities have also banned possession of a long list of items in the convention zone, including coolers, "whole fruit," rope, squirt guns, bottles of any sort and large backpacks,

Gwin has not yet set a hearing on the demonstrators' request for a preliminary injunction, but he told the city to respond to the suit by Monday of this week. So far, the city's response has been to seek to pull the RNC into the case to defend the security arrangements.

Gwin is an appointee of President Bill Clinton.