But Christine Link, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of OH, said Clevelanders have little experience assembling large-scale protests.
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“I give a lot of credit to Cleveland police and everyone doing security”, Mr. DiPietro said.
Preliminary charges included failure to disperse and assault on a police officer.
Johnson was the defendant in the case that led to the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled flag-burning constitutional.
Despite fears of violence, the first official afternoon of the Republican National Convention proved uneventful.
Williams said no pepper spray was used.
Williams said during a morning news briefing that Cleveland police commanders will inform those who choose to open carry what their responsibilities are under OH law.
In explaining how the melee unfolded, police chief said that a protester whose trousers caught fire resisted when a police officer tried to put out the blaze.
“People who have privilege – I’m a white woman, I’m a retired lieutenant colonel – have to do this because we can”, said Wright, a former U.S. Army officer and former U.S. diplomat.
Police officers are separating protest groups gathered in Cleveland’s downtown Public Square.
He says those in custody will be formally booked at a city booking center.
Cleveland police on Wednesday made multiple arrests and reported that two officers had been injured after a protester attempted to light an American flag on fire outside the security barrier surrounding the Republican National Convention. Many of them have been on the ground for weeks or months helping to secure the Quicken Loans Arena, where Trump will accept the nomination, and other high-profile locations.
The protests briefly made it hard for convention delegates and reporters to enter the arena. Police are patrolling the city on bikes, on foot and horseback, along with patrol cars and two-person side-by-side utility vehicles.
A statement from Kasich’s office said he could not suspend the law. He also said he feels his officers don’t need the added stress of large numbers of armed people coming around the area of the Quicken Loans Arena.
Chaotic protests around the arena housing the Republican National Convention are making it hard for some delegates to get inside.
“Let’s be clear: these kinds of vicious attacks on police officers will only serve to drive a wedge and destroy the very fabric of our society”, the governor said.
Across town at a rally convened by liberals opposed to Trump, Tijuana Morris, a 61-year-old retired police officer from Detroit, sounded a similar note.
Officers, some wearing riot helmets, yelled at the crowd to move back as the flag-burning group locked arms.
“Things that happen around the country and around the world do affect to some degree how we respond here in Cleveland”, Chief Calvin Williams said during an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation”.
But a supporter of the Revolutionary Party said at a news conference Thursday morning that police “lied” about people being on fire.
Warm temperatures in the low 80s may be playing a role in keeping people away.
Alfred Porter Jr., president of Black on Black Crime, Inc., a four-decade-old anti-violence group, told CNN it would not alter a planned demonstration Monday in Cleveland’s downtown Public Square.
Demonstrator Mike Patrick, who circled the square on his bicycle while wearing a hot dog suit and carrying a “Trump Eats Farts” flag, said he considered the week of the convention to be a joke for protests.
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Others held a banner saying, “Wall Off Trump”.
