Posted on 03/07/2016 12:29:38 PM PST by Jack Black
A preview of the mayhem that is likely to envelop the 2016 GOP Convention in Cleveland will be seen this Friday when Trump holds a rally in Chicago. The Facebook page soliciting 'non-violent protesters' to attend the rally has over 7000 people promising to attend, and another 7000 are "interested".
The escalation of disruption and the provocation of violence has been on view over the last few weeks, in several Trump rallies. The Black Lives Matter activists have been the most visible disruptors, but there are others as well. The BLM movement was involved in fulminating full on riots (arson, looting) in several cities last summer. This is familiar territory for them.
But they are far from the only group that can be expected to protest at the GOP Convention. The usual Soros funded rent-a-mob types, SEUI members, recycled "Occupy" protesters, angry Sanders supporters and the vanguard of violence among leftists groups, the 'black block' anarchists can all be expected to turn out in force to protest the GOP convention, regardless of who the Convention is set to nominate.
The Cleveland Police are doing their best to prepare for these events as local papers have reported: Cleveland seeking to buy riot gear for Republican National Convention and Cleveland police begin special riot training. These news reports cite the number 2,000 as the number of "riot suits" being bought for the Convention.
To understand what the leftist agitators have in mind one needs to recall the 1968 Democratic convention when the Yippies, a far left group of radicals set out to create complete havoc in the streets of Chicago, to protest the failure of the Democratic Party to nominate an anti-war candidate. This event has an almost spiritual significance to the left, it is remembered as one of their greatest victories, and a high water mark for the anti-war left. This, despite the fact that it virtually assured the election of Richard Nixon in a landslide. No one ever said the Left were concerned with outcomes over feel-good theatrics.
By most accounts the disruption in Chicago was the work of no more than 1000 activists. It seems likely that today's social-media fueled left will easily be able to exceed this number, perhaps by an order of magnitude. And it seems likely that given the recent behavior of the left, both in Ferguson and at Trump events that violent mayhem is almost a certainty.
Mayor Daley, the long time mayor of Chicago was a law-and-order mayor who had a no-nonsense policy towards the protesters. Arrests were made in the days leading up to the larger protests, and those were greeted with riot-troops and tear gas. The riots were portrayed at the time as "police riots", that is the police decided to beat up the hapless hippies for no reason. In fact the opposite is true. The organizers used incredible provocations, such as throwing plastic bags of urine and feces at the police to force their hand.
It's unclear if the Cleveland police are made of stern enough stuff to prevent large scale rioting in their city. According to Wikipedia the force consists of only about 1500 officers. Even assuming they can augment this with suburban forces, it's a far cry from Chicago's 12,000 officers. Even the Ohio State Highway Patrol has only 1,500 additional officers, many of whom have little experience in riots being specialized officers who do truck inspections or motorcycle cops focused on traffic enforcement.
The mayor of Cleveland is Frank G. Jackson, a liberal Democrat whose background includes community organizing. He has worked to address minority complaints with the Cleveland police practices, and his city has been the site of several highly charged shootings of blacks. All of which may not bode well for the police having the required mind set and support to mount an aggressive defense of order in the face of violent rioters.
One wishes it were not so, but it seems inevitable that Cleveland will be the site of serious riots at this summer's GOP convention in Cleveland.
Does Cleveland/Ohio grant reciprocity on CHL’s?
CWII Ping for a vanity. Apologies, but it is on topic.
I still believe BLM is a front created by the Obama cabal to flame race relations and bring anarchy to the country. If they truly cared about black lives, they’d be protesting gang shootings and Democrap convention.
It won’t be Black Lives Matter rioting. It will be Cruz and Trump supporters when the GOPe scrooooooos one of them out of an earned victory.
Thank you President Obama!
Conservatives don’t riot, they don’t spit, they don’t smash windows.
They simply won’t show up for Mittens or Marco.
Show up with cameras and record the actions of the BLM fascists. They love to create fake videos selectively edited to preset a false narrative. Need people to show the truth.
Stay as far away from the disturbances as possible. Allow the police to handle.
Political/ideological rioting by Progressives has a massive history of backfiring on them. Chicago 1968, for instance. Nothing wakens the Silent Majority more than big political riots.
I was already reading that when the ping came through :)
So do I get to claim - IBTP?
Hell we should all march and misbehave there, if they play games with the winner of the most votes and have a brokered convention
#BLACKLIESMATTER is coming, courtesy of the community agitator in the White Hut.
Molon Labe.
If you’re a Cleveland cop, it’s time to polish your resume. If the Republicans don’t unite, BLM will, regardless.
Damn straight
When is the GOP Convention in Chicago this summer?
Probably not. Whining sure, loud whining. But riots take a lot of energy, it’ll be hot and humid, people are too lazy to riot in that weather.
I’m in the Philly burbs and I plan to be out of the area during the Dem convention.
Whoever chose Cleveland as the site of the convention was an idiot.
(the regular GOPe, no doubt.)
BLM will riot regardless. Sorry my hands and head got disconnected.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.