Cleveland police: No arrests ahead of GOP convention
CLEVELAND — Delegates, journalists and protesters pouring in for the Republic National Convention find a city transformed, swarming with police officers and blocked with fencing and road closures designed to keep people away from each other.
Cleveland is now proportionally the most heavily policed city in America, with thousands of cops from across the country sworn in as special officers. They’re there to help manage, protect, and if necessary, detain the expected tens of thousands of protesters flocking to this Midwestern city. Authorities have been monitoring protest groups for weeks, from the Westboro Baptist Church to white supremacists, anti-Trump organizations and Black Lives Matter.
“I don't think there's a group out there that we're concerned about ... but we can't read people's minds,” Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said Sunday morning. "I'm ready to get this started, to be honest. It's game time.. and we're ready for it.”
As of Sunday at noon, police reported no major incidents, conflicts or arrests in the preceding days, despite multiple protests and marches.
Williams said he hoped to make it through the convention without arresting anyone, although it’s clear from walking the streets that officers are prepared for mass detentions, and the municipal court has cleared its docket to handle protest-related cases. The chief wouldn't say exactly how many officers have converged on Cleveland, beyond: "Hundreds of agencies, thousands of officers."
Security consultant Sam Rosenfeld, who lives in downtown Cleveland, said he worries the city is suffering from “well-meaning overconfidence.” Rosenfeld is chairman of the Densus Group, which provides security training, surveillance and advice to corporations and governments across the world. A former British Army officer, Rosenfeld said he’s closely watched preparations in the city he calls home.
“What you’re seeing downtown is the increasing realization of what might happen,” he said.
The official protest/rally zones are blocks away from Quicken Loans Arena, where the convention begins Monday afternoon. Police officers are quick to chide anyone — even jaywalkers — blocking the streets around the center. Police are patrolling the city on bikes, on foot and horseback, along with patrol cars and two-person side-by-side utility vehicles.
The first major rally took place Saturday afternoon, as about 100 people watched members of the New Black Panthers in Perk Plaza. Police officers were noticeably absent from the area, with just one marked patrol car idling nearby. Members of the Black Power group have threatened to openly carry rifles around the city, which is legal, although none were on display Saturday. Authorities have banned squirt guns and tennis balls from the area over concerns that people could fill them with gasoline, but guns are permitted because they’re specifically allowed under state law.
A block away from the New Black Panthers protest, about 50 police officers with mountain bikes waited in a parking lot but took no action to interfere with the peaceful rally during which speakers demanded reparations for slavery and argued the jailing of young black men is a deliberate effort to suppress their culture and political power.
Members of the National Lawyers Guild also walked the streets and monitored protest areas, alert for potential civil rights violations.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of police officers from across the country were sworn in as special police officers for the convention.
Their hands raised high, the group swore to uphold the Constitution, and state and local laws, “so help me God.”