Coalition to March on RNC reaches agreement with city to hold protest

“For once, we aren’t here today to condemn a decision made by the city,” said Omar Flores, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the Republican National Convention (RNC) at a Friday press conference. As of 11 a.m. on Friday, the coalition and the city of Milwaukee were able to come to what Flores called “a handshake agreement” on a protest route. The new route, only slightly different from a route announced by the coalition days ago, will come within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum, where the RNC will be held. 

Flores said that an assistant city attorney will be attending the march as well to ensure that no problems occur. “This agreement is greatly beneficial to the coalition because we can tell our partners that we can march on the route we want to without being impeded by the police,” said Flores. The coalition is calling for people to stand against what it feels is a “racist and reactionary agenda” by the Republican Party and to stand with Palestine, defend reproductive, LGBTQ, and immigrant rights, and advocate for peace and justice for all. 

“We want to be clear about something today, we were able to come to this agreement with the city because we fought for it,” said Flores. “They weren’t just going to hand it to us.” Flores said that one major reason for forming the coalition was to “send the message that direct action works. That when we fight, we win.”

Shortly after Milwaukee was chosen to host the RNC, the coalition applied for a permit to hold a family friendly march within sight and sound of the convention. That began a months-long stand-off between the coalition and the city, which had to juggle input from the U.S. Secret Service and RNC leaders. Whereas a speakers platform — offering time-slotted chances for groups to express themselves — and parade route were proposed inside the soft-security zone, a last minute venue rental near the proposed sites dashed those plans, and caused the security zones to expand. The coalition then filed a federal lawsuit arguing that their free speech rights were being violated, but a federal judge sided with the city. 

Flores said that the final agreement struck with the city resulted from consistent organizing. “We gave the city no choice but to engage with us, to allow for a family friendly protest that will go without being impeded,” said Flores. “We did this through the strong unity we formed amongst endorsing organizations. We did this by running a call-in with demands to the mayor’s office to allow us to march on the route that we asked for. We did this by constantly applying pressure through the media to show that the city was refusing to work with us. We did this through our lawsuit against the city. We are proud that today the city is working with us, and we were able to run our march the way that we want to.” 

The coalition is expecting between 5,000 and 10,000 people will attend the march on the RNC. At 10 a.m., protesters will gather in Red Arrow Park — a popular gathering place for protests in Milwaukee since the police killing of Dontre Hamilton in 2015 — prior to the march. The march is expected to pass by Martin Luther King Drive and Highland Avenue, which is where it will get closest to the Fiserv Forum. 

Although protesters can not account for how law enforcement will react to the march, Flores  said that the agreement made with the city decreases the likelihood of any problems  with police. Law enforcement from 64 agencies, across 24 states, and 44 Wisconsin agencies will be deployed to the RNC. The coalition is also aiming to avoid any potential conflict with counter protesters. “The risk of running this march was already low, but now it’s even lower,” said Flores. Flores said he hopes that the agreement with the city will set a precedent for the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.