Police fired pepper spray at a surging crowd and handcuffed several demonstrators as skirmishes broke out during a flag-burning in Cleveland outside the Republican National Convention.
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A massive police presence helped keep the protests largely under control, said Eric Ferrero, an Amnesty International deputy executive director who helped oversee teams of observers in Cleveland.
The demonstrations that many feared would end in pitched battles between police and protesters turned at times into carnival-like scenes on Public Square, the city’s commons, with bongo players, protesters dressed as nuns on stilts and children and adults alike splashing in the square’s water feature.
The city had worked with Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) County to make hundreds of jail cells available if needed during the convention.
A Cleveland officer and a Georgia state trooper were treated for a mysterious skin irritation, police said, amid reports that protesters were putting stickers on police that caused a burning sensation.
Aside from a fracas Wednesday over a group’s attempt to burn a USA flag, the drama in Cleveland this week was confined to the convention hall itself.
The “Wall off Trump” group started the most heated day of protests.
Activists said deadly attacks on police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Dallas had scared off some would-be protesters.
Meanwhile, organizers of the flag-burning denied on Thursday that the man holding the American flag was on fire and said police used that as an excuse to move in.
Prior to that incident, just a handful of people had been arrested for convention-related activities.
Two dozen protesters wearing canvas sheets formed a wall Wednesday in Cleveland’s Public Square, which is a few blocks from where the Republican National Convention is being held.
McKoy and the officers engaged in a friendly conversation about community policing after which a Cleveland officer picked up McKoy, and with big smiles on their faces they posed for a picture.
“We try not to do comparisons, but for us, and the city of Cleveland, right now, the last three days have been pretty even, not too much going on”, Williams said.
Although Williams did not mention the Revolutionary Communist Party by name, they were the group protesting, and the chief said everyone likely knew which group he was referring to.
FBI Special Agent Vicki Anderson said that FBI agents and Elyria police officers visited a home in Elyria on Wednesday to talk to some out-of-town protesters who were staying there about their behavior at a protest Tuesday. Gawkers and police officers milled about, and children played in the fountains.
The anti-Trump forces are planning an afternoon parade and an evening rally Thursday, the day Trump is scheduled to accept the Republican nomination for president.
The four-day convention has been a challenge for police, who have arrested 22 people.
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“The charge was assault on an officer because the officer tried to put it out when he saw it getting burnt, and there were also counter-demonstrators who were trying to take it away”, he said. This was the first time police had to form a perimeter around the protestors so delegates and others could get into the secure zone near Quicken Loans Arena. The charges against those arrested included failure to disperse, resisting arrest and felonious assault on a police officer.
