CLEVELAND -- Hundreds of loud, sign-waving protesters marched through downtown Cleveland on the first day of the Republican National Convention Monday afternoon, willfully flouting rules that allow for just one parade route near the city's tall buildings.

It was an early test for police and, rather than make mass arrests, they led the procession.

"This way!" a policeman on a bicycle said, pointing the diverse throng of anti-capitalist, anti-police brutality and pro-immigration rights demonstrators down authorities' preferred unauthorized route.

The demonstrators, united in their dislike of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, had gathered earlier at a small park north of Quicken Loans Arena, the primary convention venue, and set out to defiantly march toward the fence-fortified stadium.

When the group reached an apparent dead end -- a mass-arrest opportunity that police during past political conventions, or even a Cleveland protest last year, might have taken -- authorities simply allowed everyone through.

Officers on bikes stopped traffic at one intersection for at least 15 minutes, and appeared intent on projecting a friendly face to a crowd that included many self-identifying political radicals.

It's unclear why police chose to accommodate protesters and whether they intend to be so permissive if future protests enter the maze of security barriers near the convention.

Many reporters and photojournalists accompanied the activists, so a firm clampdown might have required officers to sort through detainees or arrest many journalists, something more likely to attract lawsuits than good press.

One person appeared to be arrested during the march shortly after an enthusiastic chant of "no justice, no peace, f-ck these racist police."

But that person was later identified by local journalists, including WEWS-TV reporter Ron Regan, as local activist Kathy Wray Coleman, who he reported was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Cleveland.com published a detailed account and footage that showed she was not part of the march.

Still Coleman, a middle-aged African-American woman, stirred emotions as she pleaded with the crowd "please do not leave me with them" as she was forced into the back of a police van, an apparent allusion to recent instances of black people being killed by police or dying in their custody.

"Let her go! Let her go!" a large group shouted.

At first, demonstrators appeared willing to stand firm. But after cops pushed people away using their bicycles, most lost interest and returned to the main procession.

Cleveland activist Kathy Wray Coleman gives a passionate speech as she is taken into custody Monday, reportedly on an outstanding warrant. (Brett Ziegler for USN&WR)

The largely gentle treatment of protesters comes after the shooting death Sunday of three police officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in apparent revenge for the controversial shooting death of a black man there earlier this month, and after five Dallas police officers were shot dead on July 7 by a similarly motivated man.

A media representatives for the Cleveland Police Department was not immediately able to comment on Coleman's arrest or on why officers decided to facilitate the march.

Ahead of Monday, left-wing and right-wing activists alike said they would openly carry guns in Cleveland, as allowed by state law in areas of downtown that ironically disallow relatively innocuous water guns and tennis balls , but few appeared to do so.

The media collective Unicorn Riot tweeted a photo showing a man walking near the march carrying a rifle and wearing a pro-Trump "Make America Great Again" hat. But it's unclear how long he remained with the group.

Cleveland's police union unsuccessfully requested a localized suspension of the state's "open carry" gun law, which allows people to bring firearms near the convention -- but not inside venues guarded by the Secret Service.

Many protesters on the unauthorized march reached to history to explain their feelings on current affairs. "Jews Reject Trump #WeveSeenThisBefore," one sign read. "F-ck Nazi Scum" said the t-shirt of a young man who was wearing a bandana over his face.

A young activist named Mariafe, 23, meanwhile arrived for a day trip with a contingent that drove from Minnesota carrying a sign that said "undocumented and educated." She said she benefits from President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows work permits and a reprieve from deportation for young people living illegally in the U.S. because of their parents' decisions. Republican-led states have blocked an expansion of that program with a pending lawsuit that claims Obama has exceeded his lawful authority, and the core program could face a similar fate .

Mariafe, 23, is from Minnesota for just the day. She's Peruvian, has DACA. 'Shouldn't be ashamed of it' #RNCinCLE pic.twitter.com/tNT3WHznXJ — Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) July 18, 2016

Mariafe, a Peruvian citizen, rolled her eyes when told a fellow immigrant from Peru, Jose Loayza, had founded a group "Illegals for Trump" and that he's actually a legal immigrant. "Of course he is," she said with a smile.

The mood wasn't entirely serious. One woman gleefully carried an inflatable sex doll with a mop of hair to represent Trump.

A couple hours later and a sweat-soaked walk to the east, another coalition of anti-Trump activists marched into downtown under a slogan of "End Poverty Now!" The group had to sue for the right to that route, winning a brisk federal court ruling the reduced the size of the restrictive event zone and allowed for special approval processes for that event and one hosted by the group Citizens for Trump.