Hate groups are planning a visible presence among the thousands of protesters at the Republican National Convention. Police departments are raising flags about Cleveland’s preparedness to host the event. The committee organizing the convention recently warned that any last-minute changes to the city’s protest restrictions could make it impossible to guarantee conventiongoers’ safety. Then a judge threw out the plan.

It’s all forming a backdrop of uncertainty and anxiety less than three weeks before delegates congregate to nominate Donald Trump for president.


“It’s more dangerous. It’s going to be far more dangerous for every one of us,” said Regina Thomson, a delegate from Colorado.

The Committee on Arrangements — the Republican Party’s convention-planning body — has yet to issue safety and logistical guidance to delegates, guests and media, who will be arriving in Cleveland en masse in two weeks. But they’ll be walking into the marquee event of a political cycle marked by intense polarization, racial tension and anger. Activists — both pro- and anti-Trump — will flood the streets of downtown Cleveland, sometimes simultaneously, and could create a volatile atmosphere for conventiongoers.

Cleveland has insisted for months that it’s prepared to handle the influx. The city just hosted 1.3 million people for a parade to celebrate the NBA champion Cavaliers. The convention is expected to draw about 50,000. The police department has issued a 50-page security blueprint that spells out its law enforcement plans, along with emergency response, first aid and tactical resources. And it’s pledging a seamless convention that showcases the city’s assets.

“We’re absolutely certain that people are going to have a good time,” said Dan Williams, a spokesman for Mayor Frank Jackson, a Democrat.

Williams said the city is likely to issue revised boundaries for its protest zone on Wednesday, and details have begun to emerge in local media. The original plan was tossed by U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin last week after the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit, claiming the zone was too restrictive. Gwin said the so-called event zone — where protesters can stage marches and hold rallies — was “unduly large” and imposed overbearing restrictions on the hours in which protesters could demonstrate.

The city had argued that its security limitations were in keeping with — and even less restrictive than — other recent conventions. The Committee on Arrangements filed a brief warning that changing the event zone parameters could compromise safety for convention attendees.

A sheriff's deputy in riot gear protects a campaign rally by Donald Trump at the Anaheim Convention Center on May 25. | Getty

“Any alteration to the Event Zone Regulations at this late date could significantly impact these other arrangements at a time when it may be impossible to fully account for the changed circumstances and protect the safety and security of those who seek to peacefully assemble and nominate the next Republican presidential candidate,” the committee’s lawyers wrote.

“Like a complicated puzzle, changing one piece of the plan — such as the location of a parade route — will have a ripple effect that requires the COA to reconsider and adjust other plans, which could prove to be practically impossible.”

Many GOP officials and delegates say they’re confident in the safety measures that are in place. An official with the Committee on Arrangements noted that most delegates and their guests will be traveling to and from the arena on “GOP Express,” a coordinated bus system. COA declined to comment on its attorney’s assertion that any changes in the security plan could create risks for attendees. And Michael Toner, a lawyer for COA who helped file the brief, referred questions to COA’s communications team.

The convention itself, held inside Quicken Loans Arena, will be protected by the Secret Service, which will form a “hard” perimeter in the immediate vicinity of the event. The Cleveland Police Department, with the aid of other departments from around Ohio and the country, will patrol the broader “event zone” throughout the downtown area.

Delegates will be shuttled to and from the arena from hotels that will be staffed with 24-hour security. Craig Dunn, a delegate from Indiana, said he anticipates similar levels of security to the 2012 GOP convention in Tampa, where he recalled passing through multiple security cordons — including one that searched his bus for explosives — and shuttling past boats mounted with machine guns.

“I’m not too worried about it,” Dunn said.

It’s the streets themselves where tension will run highest. Cleveland’s protest zone, even in its revised form, will permit demonstrators to roam freely, so long as they don’t block pedestrian or vehicle traffic. That raises the prospect of pro- and anti-Trump groups meeting in the same vicinity. Groups like the anti-LGBT Westboro Baptist Church intend to rally, and a white supremacist group at the center of a violent outburst in California last week has pledged to show up in Cleveland too.

Local pro- and anti-Trump organizers say they have confidence that even their political opponents are planning peaceful rallies, but they’re less certain that outside agitators won’t show up to stir the pot.

Larry Bresler, a leader of the progressive Organize! Ohio, said he speaks regularly with pro-Trump organizer Tim Selaty and is confident they’re both committed to holding peaceful rallies. But the agitation by anti-Trump activists from outside Cleveland who are pledging to stop Trump’s nomination at the convention has heightened tension.

“This is a whole different animal from other political conventions,” he said, noting that typically, most RNC protesters come from the left. “The serious problems that you had in terms of any kind of disruption by and large came from the anarchists. Here you’ve got a big number that are coming from the right this time … it presents a different dynamic.”

Bresler noted that firearms will be allowed in the “event zone” because of Ohio’s status as an open carry state, even though other more mundane items will be banned — from water guns to tape to sleeping bags.

Ralph King, one of the organizers of the pro-Trump demonstration, also said he thought any unrest would be caused by outside agitators. He said conventiongoers should have confidence in police, who just oversaw the Cavaliers’ parade without incident.

“I think the city of Cleveland has shown collectively that we are fully capable of doing big things without violence, without threats of violence and without incidents,” King said.

“I think that for the people that don’t like Trump, they’ll be able to be in their area and scream against Donald Trump to their heart’s content. We’ll be able to be in our area away from them and do backflips and somersaults in favor of him until our hearts are content.”

Hadas Gold contributed to this report.

