Convention safe?

Will Trump's convention be safe?

Protesters say they come in peace, and police say they come prepared, but some participants are still skittish.

By Kyle Cheney and Katie Glueck

Fears of chaos inside the Republican National Convention have subsided as Donald Trump has tightened his grip on the party’s presidential nomination. But outside the arena, a mishmash of planned demonstrations and marches is raising safety concerns about what happens when protesters, police and convention participants converge on the streets of Cleveland.

“I am sure it’s going to inflame beyond anything I’ve seen,” said Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate who’s attended seven national GOP conventions.

Trump’s candidacy has been proved to provoke passions and even violent confrontations — sparked by supporters and critics alike — at his campaign rallies around the country. Violent clashes between Trump protesters and police in New Mexico this week reignited concerns about the ability of law enforcement and Secret Service to tamp down on sharper confrontations at the convention, a magnet for protesters even in a typical election year.

“I would feel much more secure if they would allow me to carry my pistol into the convention,” said Dale Jackson, a delegate from Georgia (who said he always feels safer when he’s able to bring a gun), adding that he’s not worried about safety inside the Secret Service security bubble but on the outskirts, where protests will be massing.

So far, more than half a dozen protests and marches — including one anti-Trump rally whose organizers are predicting 10,000 participants on the day Trump is expected to formally claim the nomination — are seeking permits to parade through Cleveland during the convention. The planners of those events insist they’re taking precautions to encourage nonviolence, but some fear that the strong feelings Trump engenders among supporters and detractors alike will create a combustible atmosphere. In a filing with the city, one pro-Trump march organizer noted that his group is planning to contract with “a private security company and off-duty police officers to escort and assist us” in daily marches in support of the mogul.

“Although we do not anticipate any problems, taking this precautionary measure will help to ensure that march participants are strictly adhering to all traffic signals as they proceed from one site to another,” noted the organizer, Michael Freilinger, in the official filing.

Though the Secret Service, Cleveland police and state troopers will turn the city’s Quicken Loans Arena into a virtual fortress, the swirling mix of pro- and anti-Trump forces that will be swarming the city — culminating in the big anti-Trump rally — is heightening delegates’ anxiety. The most acute concerns aren’t over the preponderance of protesters, who insist they’ll be peaceful. It’s the instigators and provocateurs, for and against Trump, who could tip emotional marches toward physical clashes.

“There is a professional protest crowd that I’m sure will be out,” said Matt Borges, chairman of the Ohio GOP.

“I have no doubt the professional agitators … will seek to foment violence,” added Roger Stone, a Trump ally who is planning a pro-Trump march during the convention. Stone, who himself has faced criticism for warning of chaos in Cleveland if Trump is denied the nomination, named liberal groups like Black Lives Matter and MoveOn.org as culprits for stoking violence at earlier Trump rallies. Stone said concerns about unruly crowds prompted the city of Cleveland to slow the issuance rally permits until two weeks before the convention, a move he said he suspected was to “minimize crowd size.”

“Trump supporters should eschew violence at all costs,” Stone added. “It is important to note that violence at Trump's rallies has actually backfired and gained Trump votes.”

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and city Police Chief Calvin Williams joined Secret Service officials Wednesday to outline convention logistics, including security measures, from naming an official “parade route” for protests and an “event zone” within which rallies and gatherings will take place. Ron Rowe, the Secret Service’s RNC coordinator, said his team has “been here on the ground full time since last fall.”

“I can’t stress enough that we are prepared for this,” added Williams, who said he’s signing agreements with partner law enforcement agencies around the country to assist with convention security.

City officials said protests must be finished by 2 p.m. on most convention days, and no vehicles will be permitted, only marchers on foot. Unplanned or unregistered protests will be permitted on a “case by case” basis, so long as they don’t block traffic or compromise public safety, Williams added. There will also be an official “speakers’ platform” on Public Square — a half-mile from the convention arena — to allow members of the public to speak in half-hour increments from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Objects like fireworks and drones will be banned in the area nearby the arena.

In addition, the RNC's Committee on Arrangements already has plans in place to keep state delegations secure. The delegations will receive transportation on buses to and from the convention site, and each bus is expected to have security on board. The convention hotels are also slated to have cops on duty overnight, and some delegations are also bringing their own security for elected officials, said Kansas GOP chairman Kelly Arnold, a member of the Committee on Arrangements.

Though those precautions have largely allayed concerns about safety inside and around the arena, the atmosphere on the streets is another matter.

Unruh, the Colorado delegate, said she’s convinced the 2016 convention protests will be more confrontational than others because of a changing political and media landscape. Social media, she said, have enabled protesters to organize and agitate more easily. Then there’s TV, which “feeds off” footage of protests, she added. And finally, Unruh noted, police officers have been hammered for overly aggressive actions in recent years, which she said might make them “afraid to act like police officers and do their job” while in the glare of the national spotlight. The Cleveland Police, in particular, have been under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the shooting of Tamir Rice, an unarmed 12-year-old boy.

Republican National Convention officials and the Secret Service have long insisted they’re prepared for the convention, which has been designated a National Special Security Event, a label that triggers a slew of homeland security preparations — including setting restrictions on the manner and location of protests. “When people break those restrictions, they’ll be dealt with appropriately,” said Nicole Mainor a Secret Service spokeswoman, in a recent interview.

The RNC noted that the Secret Service has been meeting regularly with federal and local law enforcement partners.

“Whether it’s within the perimeter, on the transportation system or at their hotels, we have safety plans in place and we will be in communication with the necessary people as we get closer to convention,” said Audrey Scagnelli, a spokeswoman for the RNC’s convention planning committee.

Protest organizers insist that they’re planning peaceful events. Bryan Hambley, who’s leading the Stand Together Against Trump rally on Thursday — a march he predicts will draw 10,000 people on the day Trump is expected to claim the nomination — said he and other leaders will be hosting “full-day peace and nonviolence training” the weekend before the convention. He said he’s heard of no plans by Trump opponents to stir trouble and that he’s working to partner with national organizations that oppose Trump to increase the size of his group’s rally, which he said would focus “particularly against the sexist and racist comments that he’s made.”

“We absolutely are planning a peaceful march and rally,” he said. “We absolutely agree with convention attendees. They have every right to peacefully assemble … Trying to instigate some kind of yelling match or even worse is not at all the goal of ours.”

GOP leaders have become increasingly confident that the convention itself will be orderly inside the arena and that concerns about clashes among delegates have subsided. RNC members, state party leaders and delegates — once wary of threats and internal turmoil when it was unclear whether Trump would clinch the nomination — have been breathing sighs of relief.

“There were people from various campaigns threatening riots,” noted Borges. “That was over an issue that doesn’t exist anymore.”

“I don't think there's any question the tensions are going to be much lower than they would have been at a contested convention,” added Henry Barbour, an RNC member from Mississippi.

Republicans have largely expressed confidence in the security planning of the Secret Service and the RNC after airing concerns at a meeting of state party chairmen in Florida last month. RNC leaders assured them that the convention would be safe and that family members and friends should be encouraged to attend.

“Now, the focus is on securing the perimeter of the convention,” said Matt Moore, chairman of the South Carolina GOP. “I don’t expect any problems within the convention itself. Now, emotions could run high, particularly related to rules or platforms. But we’re all committed to being fair and open about these things.”

Veteran security and police experts who have steered conventions in the past said there’s little reason to worry about convention safety, even with a nominee as polarizing as Trump.

“I would expect protests and I guarantee you that's what law enforcement is prepared for. That’s the nature of a convention,” said Jim Davis, who helmed federal security efforts at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. “The DNC we had here in 2008 was a lovefest, yet we still had some significant activity on the part of anarchists who were just looking for an opportunity to raise hell ... In ’08 we were very focused on radical right-wing groups, white supremacists, all of those things that could have come for the nomination of the first black candidate. So you're ready for these things.”