Above: Protestors chant during a Shut Down Trump and the RNC march in downtown Cleveland. Above and all photos by Joshua Gunter, Cleveland.com Sunday, July 17, 2016. Cleveland.
Shut Down Trump Rally Kicks Off Republican Convention
CLEVELAND, Ohio — About 150 demonstrators marched through downtown Cleveland Sunday in protest of Donald Trump, one day ahead of the Republican National Convention.
The protest included people and groups from as far away as California. Organizers named the two-hour protest “Shut Down Trump and the RNC.”
“We’re dressed as Lady Liberty because Donald Trump and the GOP priorities are at odds with what make our country great, which is being inclusionary,” said San Francisco resident Rebecca Green, a member of the women’s peace organization Code Pink. “We’re protesting Trump’s hateful, xenophobic campaign.”
Nine Code Pink members donned their recognizable pink Statue of Liberty.
Other colorful protesters included a woman carrying a papier-mâché pig wearing a Trump wig.
A man walking through the crowd at E. 9th and Lakeside kicked the pig after someone set it on the ground. The man walked away and said he disagreed with the anti-Trump tone of the demonstration.
The Rev. Jose Landaverede, a Chicago priest, walked from the Windy City to Cleveland to protest against Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. He said he left Chicago June 20 and arrived Friday.
Vermin Supreme, a Massachusetts activist who has garnered votes in presidential primaries in 2004, 2008 and 2012, also walked with marchers. He wore his trademark boot on his head and slapped himself with a pool noodle.
He said he is still seeking the Republican nomination this year and is hoping to steal delegates from Trump. When asked why he wears the boot on his head, he said: “exactly.”
Supreme also sang the Queen song “Bicycle Race” to Cleveland bike patrol officers who lined the streets to block traffic for the protesters.
Officers from Cleveland, California and Ohio State were seen helping to block traffic and monitor the protest. A police bike crew outfitted in Fox Racing BMX-style gear also helped the bike unit. One police officer took videos of the protesters faces after they stopped at East 9th and Lakeside.
The protesters took a winding route through the city, starting at the Masonic Performance Arts Center on East 36th and Euclid. The group marched on Euclid Avenue, turned through Cleveland State University’s campus, then through the Playhouse Square Theater District.
The group chanted several slogans, including: “5-6-7-8 America was never great,” “black lives matter,” and “No Trump, no K-K-K, no fascist U-S-A.”
Some were specific to Cleveland, including “March on with no fear, we’re doing this for Tamir” for Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy shot to death by a Cleveland police officer in 2014.
The protest ended without any incidents.
A man was arrested after the protest on suspicion of trying to steal a state trooper’s gas mask, according to Cleveland police. More information on the incident was not immediately available.