With police on edge in this summer of bloodshed, hundreds of Donald Trump supporters and foes held duelling rallies a half-mile apart on Monday in a tense but mostly peaceful start to the four-day Republican National Convention.
About a dozen Trump backers showed up with handguns strapped to their belts as allowed under Ohio law. Blocks away, protesters shouted about police mistreatment.
People along the streets showered police officers with applause, hugs and a few insults.
No major clashes were reported between pro- and anti-Trump forces during the two biggest demonstrations on Monday’s schedule or at rallies held in the later afternoon and early evening.
“So far, so good,” Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams said at a Monday night press briefing. Mr. Williams said there had been no violence and no property damage.
Concrete barricades blocked key streets and intersections downtown, fences surrounded the arena where delegates assembled, and police helicopters flew over the city.
About 600 Cleveland officers were assigned to convention security duty along with thousands of officers from other agencies. Among them- Homeland Security investigators, Customs and Border Protection personnel, Coast Guard members, and the Ohio National Guard.
Among those at the pro-Trump rally was Joel Ameigh, of Hershey, Pennsylvania, who had a Smith & Wesson handgun on his belt.
“We’re not here to be dangerous people. We’re not here to intimidate anyone. There are laws against that sort of thing,” he said.
The president of the police union on Sunday asked Ohio Gov. John Kasich to suspend the law allowing gun owners to carry firearms in plain sight. But the Republican Governor said he didn’t have the authority.
The request came as the deadly truck attack in France and the ambush killings of five police officers earlier this month in Dallas and three more in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, over the weekend heightened fears of bloodshed in Cleveland.
Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Paul Manafort, said disruptions by protesters could work to the candidate’s political advantage.
“Frankly, that impact will probably help the campaign because it’s going to show again, you know, lawlessness, a lack of respect for political discourse,” he said shortly before the convention officially began.
There was at least one dust-up, involving right-wing religious demonstrators who got into a shouting match with some of the anti-Trump protesters.
And police arrested one woman on an outstanding warrant after she jumped on a public stage downtown and grabbed a microphone from a speaker, according to city officials. Williams said the woman was also being charged with resisting arrest and obstructing official business.
On the anti-Trump side, several hundred people chanted “Dump Trump now!” and held signs saying things like “No racism, no fascism, no Trump” as they marched through the streets.
Many were upset with the Republican presidential candidate’s stand on immigration, including his proposal to build a wall at the Mexican border and his call for barring Muslims from entering the U.S. The demonstrators also decried what they called racist police practices.
Jezell Gaines, of New York City, marched through the streets with anti-Trump protesters who chanted, “Black lives matter!”
“Trump is bad news,” she said, adding “He’s preaching hate. It’s not cool, because we’re trying to overcome hate.”
Officers on bicycles and Indiana state troopers on convention security duty stood off to the side while a black speaker complained about police mistreatment.
Cleveland patrolman Bohdan Roshetsky, an eight-year veteran, said that after the recent shootings, “our awareness is extremely high.”
“I’ve been brought to tears numerous times riding around on the bike, seeing them cheering, clapping, thanking us for being there,” he said.
Even protesters complaining about police tactics were being respectful, he said. “Nobody’s been nasty to us,” he said.
Across town, the rap metal supergroup Prophets of Rage played a 3-minute concert for a sparse crowd in Cleveland’s Public Square to protest the “racism, sexism and imperialism” in the Republican platform.
“Out here, human rights, respect for the planet and resistance to oppression is what we sing about,” the group’s Tom Morello told an audience of about 200.
