SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
'Combustible' GOP Convention: Riot Police Swarm Cleveland as FBI Tells Protesters Not to Show
Cleveland opens up extra space in jails, courts, and shuts down local university to house thousands of riot police and military weaponry as FBI and Homeland Security warn of "radical activists"
Jul 15, 2016
Authorities in Cleveland, Ohio, are adding fuel to an already "combustible" atmosphere, some activists say, as the city readies extra jail space and courtrooms and shuts down a local university to house 1,700 riot police and their weapons in preparation for demonstrations at next week's Republican Party convention.
Democracy Now! reported Thursday that city officials "say some courts will be kept open almost 24 hours per day in case protesters are arrested en masse. Authorities have also opened up extra jail space to hold protesters."
The decision to shut down classes at Case Western Reserve University to house riot police drew ire from students and faculty, as one professor described in Belt Magazine:
Imagine my surprise[...] when I learned that not only would CWRU be housing approximately 1,700 riot police in student dormitories during the Republican National Convention, that not only would those police be permitted to store their weapons in student dormitories, and that not only would widespread student opposition to this decision be placated with two milquetoast Q&A sessions--"opportunities to learn," President Barbara Snyder called them--but that my colleagues and I, with only one week's notice, would be expected to cancel a week of summer classes in order to accommodate the quartering of the paramilitary force descending on Cleveland to police the city during the convention.
Adding tension to the situation in Cleveland is the fact that several Black Lives Matter protests last week saw mass arrests and violent behavior from police, leading civil rights groups in Louisiana to sue the Baton Rouge police force for violating demonstrators' First Amendment rights--not to mention the fatal police shootings of two black men in St. Paul and Baton Rouge a week prior.
In Cleveland in particular, there is widespread distrust of the police department that fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, and then lied about the circumstances of the killing to cover themselves.
Police nationwide have also been on edge since a lone gunman ambushed a peaceful protest in Dallas, killing five officers.
Moreover, it emerged on Thursday that officials from the FBI have been personally contacting civil rights activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement to warn them that they shouldn't show up at the convention, the Independent reports.
"I think the FBI should be more concerned with investigating and dissuading the known white supremacists and people with ties to known terrorist organizations from attending the convention, versus trying to intimidate people who are speaking out against injustice," said Samuel Sinyangwe, a civil rights activist contacted by the FBI, to the Independent.
The Ohio chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP made similar complaints last month in response to such tactics from local police.
Ratcheting tensions further, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is expected to draw out many passionate supporters of his divisive and racist rhetoric. As Ohio has an "open carry" law allowing the open display of guns, observers expect many convention-goers to be armed.
"Should violence break out during protests in Cleveland, open-carry activists bearing long-gun rifles may distract officers, frighten demonstrators, or inadvertently endanger themselves," CityLab argued.
CityLab also noted that while "Ohio's permissive open-carry laws introduce quite an X-factor into the proceedings[...] so does the Cleveland Police Department's 2015 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, which remains unresolved. Then there is the fact that the RNC is a national and global event on a scale that Cleveland has never seen. (Certainly not in 1936, the last time the city hosted the RNC.)"
Activists are preparing for the worst.
The Boston Globe reported that hundreds of demonstrators "will undergo training to help ensure their safety. Some will don neon green caps and be tasked with documenting--with video--the use of force by police or attacks by other groups."
"Activists are being trained to make sure their hands are always exposed, so it's evident they are not holding weapons, and to clearly articulate if approached by police that they are 'complying, not resisting,'" the newspaper added.
"Some members of Black Lives Matter[...] said they would join [other] marches instead of holding their own event, in part due to safety concerns," the Globe wrote.
Democracy Now! observes that the FBI and local police are also turning their cameras onto protesters: "Authorities, including the FBI, have been monitoring protest groups ahead of the convention and even approaching local activists. Police have also said they will deploy a video unit to document police interactions with demonstrators."
"We want to make it very clear that we are being cooperative," the Rev. Waltrina Middleton, founder of Movement for Black Lives and Cleveland Action, told the Globe.
Middleton "said many local activists are already on edge following home visits by the FBI and other law enforcement inquiring about their plans during the convention. (The FBI has characterized the visits as 'community outreach' aimed at keeping the convention safe)," the Globe noted.
The newspaper added that police "insist they are prepared to keep the peace with ramped-up security plans":
Stephen Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said he expects around 3,100 uniformed officers to be on duty, including police coming from out of state, in addition to an undisclosed number of undercover officers.
"We're training for the worst-case scenario. Just over the last few weeks we've really gotten aggressive about it," Loomis said. "We are going to have two very passionate groups of people here on opposite ends of the ideological universe. We are not going to tolerate rocks being thrown, citizens being injured, property being damaged because of a handful of knuckleheads."
Heads of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI both told reporters that they fear violence from "radical activists" at next week's convention, ABC reported.
"It's a threat we're watching very, very carefully," FBI director James Comey said.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Authorities in Cleveland, Ohio, are adding fuel to an already "combustible" atmosphere, some activists say, as the city readies extra jail space and courtrooms and shuts down a local university to house 1,700 riot police and their weapons in preparation for demonstrations at next week's Republican Party convention.
Democracy Now! reported Thursday that city officials "say some courts will be kept open almost 24 hours per day in case protesters are arrested en masse. Authorities have also opened up extra jail space to hold protesters."
The decision to shut down classes at Case Western Reserve University to house riot police drew ire from students and faculty, as one professor described in Belt Magazine:
Imagine my surprise[...] when I learned that not only would CWRU be housing approximately 1,700 riot police in student dormitories during the Republican National Convention, that not only would those police be permitted to store their weapons in student dormitories, and that not only would widespread student opposition to this decision be placated with two milquetoast Q&A sessions--"opportunities to learn," President Barbara Snyder called them--but that my colleagues and I, with only one week's notice, would be expected to cancel a week of summer classes in order to accommodate the quartering of the paramilitary force descending on Cleveland to police the city during the convention.
Adding tension to the situation in Cleveland is the fact that several Black Lives Matter protests last week saw mass arrests and violent behavior from police, leading civil rights groups in Louisiana to sue the Baton Rouge police force for violating demonstrators' First Amendment rights--not to mention the fatal police shootings of two black men in St. Paul and Baton Rouge a week prior.
In Cleveland in particular, there is widespread distrust of the police department that fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, and then lied about the circumstances of the killing to cover themselves.
Police nationwide have also been on edge since a lone gunman ambushed a peaceful protest in Dallas, killing five officers.
Moreover, it emerged on Thursday that officials from the FBI have been personally contacting civil rights activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement to warn them that they shouldn't show up at the convention, the Independent reports.
"I think the FBI should be more concerned with investigating and dissuading the known white supremacists and people with ties to known terrorist organizations from attending the convention, versus trying to intimidate people who are speaking out against injustice," said Samuel Sinyangwe, a civil rights activist contacted by the FBI, to the Independent.
The Ohio chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP made similar complaints last month in response to such tactics from local police.
Ratcheting tensions further, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is expected to draw out many passionate supporters of his divisive and racist rhetoric. As Ohio has an "open carry" law allowing the open display of guns, observers expect many convention-goers to be armed.
"Should violence break out during protests in Cleveland, open-carry activists bearing long-gun rifles may distract officers, frighten demonstrators, or inadvertently endanger themselves," CityLab argued.
CityLab also noted that while "Ohio's permissive open-carry laws introduce quite an X-factor into the proceedings[...] so does the Cleveland Police Department's 2015 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, which remains unresolved. Then there is the fact that the RNC is a national and global event on a scale that Cleveland has never seen. (Certainly not in 1936, the last time the city hosted the RNC.)"
Activists are preparing for the worst.
The Boston Globe reported that hundreds of demonstrators "will undergo training to help ensure their safety. Some will don neon green caps and be tasked with documenting--with video--the use of force by police or attacks by other groups."
"Activists are being trained to make sure their hands are always exposed, so it's evident they are not holding weapons, and to clearly articulate if approached by police that they are 'complying, not resisting,'" the newspaper added.
"Some members of Black Lives Matter[...] said they would join [other] marches instead of holding their own event, in part due to safety concerns," the Globe wrote.
Democracy Now! observes that the FBI and local police are also turning their cameras onto protesters: "Authorities, including the FBI, have been monitoring protest groups ahead of the convention and even approaching local activists. Police have also said they will deploy a video unit to document police interactions with demonstrators."
"We want to make it very clear that we are being cooperative," the Rev. Waltrina Middleton, founder of Movement for Black Lives and Cleveland Action, told the Globe.
Middleton "said many local activists are already on edge following home visits by the FBI and other law enforcement inquiring about their plans during the convention. (The FBI has characterized the visits as 'community outreach' aimed at keeping the convention safe)," the Globe noted.
The newspaper added that police "insist they are prepared to keep the peace with ramped-up security plans":
Stephen Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said he expects around 3,100 uniformed officers to be on duty, including police coming from out of state, in addition to an undisclosed number of undercover officers.
"We're training for the worst-case scenario. Just over the last few weeks we've really gotten aggressive about it," Loomis said. "We are going to have two very passionate groups of people here on opposite ends of the ideological universe. We are not going to tolerate rocks being thrown, citizens being injured, property being damaged because of a handful of knuckleheads."
Heads of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI both told reporters that they fear violence from "radical activists" at next week's convention, ABC reported.
"It's a threat we're watching very, very carefully," FBI director James Comey said.
Authorities in Cleveland, Ohio, are adding fuel to an already "combustible" atmosphere, some activists say, as the city readies extra jail space and courtrooms and shuts down a local university to house 1,700 riot police and their weapons in preparation for demonstrations at next week's Republican Party convention.
Democracy Now! reported Thursday that city officials "say some courts will be kept open almost 24 hours per day in case protesters are arrested en masse. Authorities have also opened up extra jail space to hold protesters."
The decision to shut down classes at Case Western Reserve University to house riot police drew ire from students and faculty, as one professor described in Belt Magazine:
Imagine my surprise[...] when I learned that not only would CWRU be housing approximately 1,700 riot police in student dormitories during the Republican National Convention, that not only would those police be permitted to store their weapons in student dormitories, and that not only would widespread student opposition to this decision be placated with two milquetoast Q&A sessions--"opportunities to learn," President Barbara Snyder called them--but that my colleagues and I, with only one week's notice, would be expected to cancel a week of summer classes in order to accommodate the quartering of the paramilitary force descending on Cleveland to police the city during the convention.
Adding tension to the situation in Cleveland is the fact that several Black Lives Matter protests last week saw mass arrests and violent behavior from police, leading civil rights groups in Louisiana to sue the Baton Rouge police force for violating demonstrators' First Amendment rights--not to mention the fatal police shootings of two black men in St. Paul and Baton Rouge a week prior.
In Cleveland in particular, there is widespread distrust of the police department that fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, and then lied about the circumstances of the killing to cover themselves.
Police nationwide have also been on edge since a lone gunman ambushed a peaceful protest in Dallas, killing five officers.
Moreover, it emerged on Thursday that officials from the FBI have been personally contacting civil rights activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement to warn them that they shouldn't show up at the convention, the Independent reports.
"I think the FBI should be more concerned with investigating and dissuading the known white supremacists and people with ties to known terrorist organizations from attending the convention, versus trying to intimidate people who are speaking out against injustice," said Samuel Sinyangwe, a civil rights activist contacted by the FBI, to the Independent.
The Ohio chapter of the National Lawyers Guild and the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP made similar complaints last month in response to such tactics from local police.
Ratcheting tensions further, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is expected to draw out many passionate supporters of his divisive and racist rhetoric. As Ohio has an "open carry" law allowing the open display of guns, observers expect many convention-goers to be armed.
"Should violence break out during protests in Cleveland, open-carry activists bearing long-gun rifles may distract officers, frighten demonstrators, or inadvertently endanger themselves," CityLab argued.
CityLab also noted that while "Ohio's permissive open-carry laws introduce quite an X-factor into the proceedings[...] so does the Cleveland Police Department's 2015 consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, which remains unresolved. Then there is the fact that the RNC is a national and global event on a scale that Cleveland has never seen. (Certainly not in 1936, the last time the city hosted the RNC.)"
Activists are preparing for the worst.
The Boston Globe reported that hundreds of demonstrators "will undergo training to help ensure their safety. Some will don neon green caps and be tasked with documenting--with video--the use of force by police or attacks by other groups."
"Activists are being trained to make sure their hands are always exposed, so it's evident they are not holding weapons, and to clearly articulate if approached by police that they are 'complying, not resisting,'" the newspaper added.
"Some members of Black Lives Matter[...] said they would join [other] marches instead of holding their own event, in part due to safety concerns," the Globe wrote.
Democracy Now! observes that the FBI and local police are also turning their cameras onto protesters: "Authorities, including the FBI, have been monitoring protest groups ahead of the convention and even approaching local activists. Police have also said they will deploy a video unit to document police interactions with demonstrators."
"We want to make it very clear that we are being cooperative," the Rev. Waltrina Middleton, founder of Movement for Black Lives and Cleveland Action, told the Globe.
Middleton "said many local activists are already on edge following home visits by the FBI and other law enforcement inquiring about their plans during the convention. (The FBI has characterized the visits as 'community outreach' aimed at keeping the convention safe)," the Globe noted.
The newspaper added that police "insist they are prepared to keep the peace with ramped-up security plans":
Stephen Loomis, president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, said he expects around 3,100 uniformed officers to be on duty, including police coming from out of state, in addition to an undisclosed number of undercover officers.
"We're training for the worst-case scenario. Just over the last few weeks we've really gotten aggressive about it," Loomis said. "We are going to have two very passionate groups of people here on opposite ends of the ideological universe. We are not going to tolerate rocks being thrown, citizens being injured, property being damaged because of a handful of knuckleheads."
Heads of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI both told reporters that they fear violence from "radical activists" at next week's convention, ABC reported.
"It's a threat we're watching very, very carefully," FBI director James Comey said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.