Peaceful protest march greets the arrival of the RNC in Milwaukee
See photos and videos from the march as it wound through downtown Milwaukee.
The Recombobulation Area is a thirteen-time Milwaukee Press Club award-winning weekly opinion column and online publication founded by longtime Milwaukee journalist Dan Shafer. Learn more about it here.
Protesters held a peaceful march through downtown streets as the Republican National Convention kicked off in Milwaukee.
A wide variety of groups gathered in the morning at Red Arrow Park, located several blocks east of the RNC’s hard security perimeter. The events of the shooting and attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump two days prior in Pennsylvania hung in the air and loomed over the event, but among those I talked to at the event, few expressed any level of heightened concern.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, spoke at the event that preceded the march, and addressed the incident, starting by denouncing the political violence in Pennsylvania, and continued to say, “At the same time, it’s undeniable that Trump’s rhetoric, policies and actions have contributed to a climate of increased violence and legitimized hate crimes by white nationalists.”
After the press conference, I talked with Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, about heightened concerns over political violence and if what happened on Saturday. He said the protest group did not reconsider plans to march after the assassination attempt on Saturday, and that they “reaffirmed plans with the city right after we heard about it.”
“I have very few safety concerns,” said Flores, in a brief interview with The Recombobulation Area. “From the very start of this, we’ve always prepared for the worst. We kind of anticipated 2024 being a heightened political arena and so it’s nothing we’re not ready for.”
Asked about threats of political violence, Flores said, “We’re not the ones advocating for political violence. The Democrats and Republicans are both experts in political violence. We saw it during campus protests, we saw it in 2020, we saw it with how the city gave the RNC on a silver platter. That’s political violence to us.”
Criticism of both parties was a common sentiment among protestors. Among those who I talked to at the event, very few expressed support or approval for the Democratic Party. People there for the protest came from all over the country, and many are also planning to protest for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month. Chants were directed at both Republicans and Democrats throughout the march.
The march officially began just after noon, and went south on Water Street and wound through downtown.
“Whose city? Our city! Whose country? Our country!”
The protest continued without incident. A police officer I talked to said the march was “nice and peaceful” and there were “no incidents to report.” I also spoke with a “parade marshal” with the Coalition to March and they had no issues to report, either.
After months of discussion about the location of the march, it went through the “soft” security zone along Martin Luther King Drive, stopping at the security entrance at the corner of Highland and MLK. This happened peacefully and without incident. There was a bit of back and forth between other anti-abortion protesters who were also there to protest the RNC, but that only lasted a few minutes.
Not long after, the protest march concluded, back at Red Arrow Park, with a few more speeches and a gathering.
Days before, Flores estimated that 2,500 to 5,000 people would attend the march on Monday. Before the event, he told me that he estimated more than 1,000 people in Red Arrow Park.
The number of people marching might have been in the thousands, but in my estimation, there were fewer people there than what was expected. The streets were certainly full of protesters, but you do have to wonder if the shooting on Saturday discouraged some from attending.
All in all though, a successful protest, conducted peacefully, at a moment of heightened national tensions.
Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 18 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.
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