And for good measure, he spent three hours riding with bicycle officers on patrol that night.
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Pundits predicted “violence and mayhem” for this week’s Republican National Convention.
Numerous protesters hid their faces under bandanas despite the muggy weather.
A police line separates protesters from the crowd. And the wall of officers began to disperse, though there was still a heavy police presence as delegates and others streamed through the entrance.
“You’re on fire! You’re on fire, stupid!” a Cleveland officer shouted at a protester while firing the extinguishing spray.
Instead, the intersection was clear within five minutes. With only small protests and rallies of a few hundred people sprouting up over the past few days, the streets have remained largely peaceful. Two officers suffered slight injuries.
Eighteen people were arrested after a fight broke and flag burning demonstration during protests near East 4th Street.
CLEVELAND (AP) – The organizers of a flag-burning outside the Republican convention that resulted in 17 arrests denied on Thursday that the man holding the American flag was on fire and said police used that as an excuse to move in. “There’s nothing great about America”, The Associated Press reported, citing activist Carl Dix. A man lit an American flag on fire and police said he also caught himself on fire and pushed a police officer attempting to help him. “Now I am so disgusted that I come dressed like this to downtown Cleveland, carrying a sign”.
While the melee created the most intense moments outside the convention so far, the protests have produced far fewer arrests and less trouble than law enforcement had feared.
Marni Halasa of Bath wore a pink butterfly costume with a sign reading, “Let’s let democracy fly”, to get the media’s attention, she said. “But things have been going the way that they should be going”.
Authorities say most are free on personal recognizance bonds with some accused of flag burning still not charged while prosecutors review charges.
That could still change. But those passionate and polarizing discussions haven’t boiled over into violence or disruption.
Entering its final day, the convention has played out nothing like those doomsday scenarios.
Though still gathered in large numbers, police seemed more relaxed as the evening went on.
Most members of the assembled crowd-an incongruous mixture of religious people, anarchists, communists, bikers, Trump supporters and reporters-said they’d come to either witness the protest, or counter-protest themselves. From observation, the police have been using a combination of horses, bikes, and on foot police to peacefully breakup rowdier groups and maintain order.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance agreement was crystal clear: “We defend each other”. Police updated that total Thursday to 18 people. Other members of the protest who were not detained yelled at their compatriots as they were loaded into vans for removal. The shooting death by police of a 12-year-old put the city at the center of a national debate on the policing of minority communities. McIver released a statement Wednesday saying that she had inadvertently included some phrases from Mrs. Obama’s speech into Mrs. Trump’s address and offered her resignation.
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Lt. Michael Butler said 10 to 16 people were taken into custody and would be charged.
