After months of wrangling with the Secret Service and the city of Milwaukee over the “protest zone” location for the GOP Convention, Republicans appear to have won some major concessions that would move the protesters farther away from Fiserv Forum.
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The original location for the “protest zone” would have been Pere Marquette Park, which is located about 1/3 of a mile from the front door of the venue. Delegates and guests would have been accosted on their way to the convention as thousands of pro-abortion, pro-Hamas, and TDS lunatics would have had a free shot at attendees.
Republicans said they would use another facility close to Fiserv Forum to host some convention events, forcing the Secret Service to expand its security perimeter.
The decision is expected to be announced in the next several days.
“We applaud Secret Service leadership for including Pere Marquette Park in the security perimeter and we implore local officials to expedite the permit application for this park and choose a different location for the First Amendment zone,” Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez said in a statement.
The Secret Service says the planned security zone is still under development.
“As of right now, the security plan for the 2024 Republican National Convention, which includes the security perimeter, is still in development,” said Secret Service spokeswoman Alexi Worley. “The U.S. Secret Service does not determine demonstration zones for National Special Security Events — those decisions are made by the host city.”
As far as the Secret Service is concerned, all is quiet on the Milwaukee River.
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Several prominent Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have raised concerns about the park, which party officials say is near an area where many convention attendees will walk to the arena. They say they fear that demonstrators and convention attendees could clash if they are in proximity.
In a tense 45-minute meeting last month, Secret Service officials said they were aware of no “unrest” related to the protests in the park. And many local activists say they fear the Republicans just want to move protesters farther away from Trump and believe they should be closer than Pere Marquette Park, not farther away.
Republicans have proposed at least one park on the other side of the Milwaukee River from the arena, but the city is considering several possible locations.
The Secret Service doesn’t appear to have its ear to the ground. Both the Democratic and Republican conventions are in danger of being disrupted by violent protests. Hopefully, the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement agencies are very aware of the threat and are just trying to tamp down expectations of trouble.
As for the protesters, they actually wanted to be closer than a third of a mile to Fixserv Forum.
Omar Flores, a leader of a coalition of protesters, said Thursday that the Pere Marquette Park site was already problematic. He said that it was too far from the convention location, and that city permits had crowded together opposing groups that most likely would have clashed.
Still, any agreement to put the closest park in the security perimeter may force the city’s hands. Republicans had demanded that the city push the protest zone south about a half-mile to Zeidler Union Square, out of sight and earshot of convention-goers filing into the main arena. To drive the issue, Republicans have applied for their own permit to stage events in Pere Marquette Park.
It will be up to city and Milwaukee County officials to seek the permits for a new location.
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These protesters are itching for a repeat of 1968 in Chicago. They want the chance to bash a few Republican heads. They want to be able to chant “The whole world’s watching” on TV. However, they can’t do that if they’re too far away from the convention site.
We’ll see what a federal court says about it.