Group protesting Republican convention criticizes ruling, announces new march route

Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, during a the media walkthrough of the 2024 Republican National Convention. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

The Coalition to March on the RNC is condemning a decision by a federal judge that restrictions to protest routes by the city of Milwaukee do not violate protesters’ rights to freedom of expression. On Tuesday, the coalition declared participants would march “within sight and sound” of the Republican National Convention (RNC), regardless of whether the city approves of the route protesters choose.

“What we have seen happen in Milwaukee is unfortunately what often happens when the RNC comes to town,” the coalition said in a press release. “Mayors and local police departments from host cities will work with the Secret Service and the RNC to suppress communities’ free speech.”

The coalition announced a new parade route for its march, starting at 10 a.m. on July 15. The route includes Water Street, on the opposite side of the Milwaukee River from the convention’s “soft security zone.” Two loops of the route will enter the soft security zone, including Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, two blocks east of the Fiserv Forum and the “hard security zone” surrounding it.

“We are preparing for the worst, but expecting the best,” the coalition stated. “Our best will be a family friendly protest where we can project our agenda to the extent that it will overshadow the hateful, reactionary and racist Republican agenda.”

The coalition accused the city government of delaying releasing the group’s designated route in order to condense the amount of time protesters would have to litigate that decision. “We deserved a route we had adequate time to organize around and litigate,” said the coalition statement, adding that the city has “a moral obligation” to provide protesters with the route they asked for.

Tensions have grown the closer the RNC comes. Shortly after the RNC was announced last year, the coalition applied for a permit to hold a march where they could be seen and heard by delegates at the Fiserv Forum, where the convention will be held. That permit was never approved, and city officials went ahead with their parade route plan after mediation with the coalition fell through.

The city and the Secret Service established a “security footprint” of several blocks in each direction from the convention and restricted demonstrations and protests to certain areas around or outside the security zone. In June Republican leaders asked the city and Secret Service to push the protests as far from the convention as possible. When those requests were rejected, the RNC rented a venue near the site of a proposed speakers platform and parade route, and officials responded by expanding the security zone a couple of weeks before the convention’s start.

“The city has opened doors and rolled out red carpet for the Republicans and has left their residents in the dark,” the coalition wrote in its press statement. “There is no legitimate reason to criminalize our protest, on a route we have marched before without incident. While the city says that they cannot grant us our route due to ‘safety concerns,’ they are actually increasing the likelihood of police coming into contact with protests by not granting us a permit for our route.” The coalition statement added, “Historically, police intervention has always been the start of a protest going south.”

In a recent Wisconsin Examiner article , coalition spokesperson Omar Flores stated that although the plan is to hold a family friendly march, the possibility that police will respond with force remains. The Milwaukee Police Department admitted to making misleading statements about protester violence in 2020, and r ecords recently obtained by the Examiner showed that city officials discussed disguising the purchase of pepper spray ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that year.

”It is important to be clear that as organizers we were never going to let this decision decide if we march or not,” the coalition press release stated. “We are going to march on the streets that we have a right to march on, the same way we always have here in Milwaukee. This court decision is about how the city will react to our family friendly protest.”

The coalition described the Milwaukee Police Department responses to protests as “relatively hands off” in the past.  “Leading organizers have held successful marches of similar size and larger without a permit,” the coalition stated. “The overwhelming majority of our protests proceed as planned without arrests, and we expect the same to happen while the RNC is in town.”

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