After months of arguments with top Republicans, the Secret Service has rejected the city of Milwaukee's plan to allow a protest zone less than a third of a mile from Fiserv Forum.
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Pere Marquette Park will now be inside the security zone, meaning only credentialed attendees can access the park.
Instead of Pere Marquette, the protest zones will be smaller. Haymarket Park is located due east of the Fiserv Forum but attendees won't have to worry about mixing it up with protesters since most of the hotels are west of the forum. Another protest zone, Zeidler Union Square, is five blocks from the Forum.
What does the RNC think of the new arrangement?
Convention spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that safety and standing up for the Constitution “have always been topmost priorities” for the convention.
“We look forward to continuing to collaborate closely with the U.S. Secret Service as well as local law enforcement to ensure the best possible convention experience for everyone,” Desai added.
The protesters were far less satisfied.
"It's completely insulting for them to offer either of those parks because they're not within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum," Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, said at a press conference outside the federal courthouse.
The city is also allowing a march that will take protesters past the Baird Center, where the press will be housed, and the Fiserv Forum, where the convention will be held.
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Not good enough, say the protesters.
Flores vowed to march a route the group expects to release soon, saying it will be a "family-friendly protest." And while he said the group does not plan to try to march into the hard zone, the group won't be limited to the sidewalk, either.
Flores said he expected thousands of people to be part of the group's march, making it unsafe to try to squeeze onto the sidewalk.
As for the group's plans to march its own route, he said, "If MPD is serious about what they're saying, then we shouldn't be worried about any type of arrest and honestly, I'd encourage them to not even show up."
He's kidding, right? The police "not even show up"? A real jerk, Mr. Flores is.
The ACLU won't be satisfied unless the protesters can enter the venue.
"The large size of this zone makes it more critical than ever that the City take steps to allow for effective opportunities for expression and assembly by those with differing viewpoints," Tim Muth, staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said in a statement.
He also said including Pere Marquette Park in the inner security zone "cannot be justified" and "represents an impermissible concession to the Republican National Committee, which did not want to see or hear demonstrators near its convention."
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Not did they want to see a bloody riot by brain-dead leftists and pro-Hamas extremists.
The Secret Service will allow concealed firearms in the outer security perimeter.
Local and federal law enforcement agencies have released a security plan for next month's Republican National Convention in Milwaukee that allows people to carry guns inside an outer perimeter and gives protesters a view of the arena.
— News 3 Now / Channel 3000 (@WISCTV_News3) June 21, 2024
https://t.co/vxN3IytrDX
When push comes to shove, the city of Milwaukee will probably allow the march to wander from the designated areas. But the Secret Service controls the security of the venue, and you wouldn't want to mess with them.
