Protests but also hugs on convention’s quiet last day
CLEVELAND — The four-day Republican convention drew to a close Thursday night with a total of only two dozen protest-related arrests, a relief to city officials and police who had braced for mass disruptions and violence during this summer of bloodshed.
The demonstrations that many feared would end in pitched battles between police and protesters turned at times into carnival-like scenes, with bongo players and with protesters dressed as nuns on stilts.
There were tense moments and some angry words as anarchists, anti-Muslim protesters and pro-capitalist groups filled the downtown Public Square, but most people seemed to get along.
State troopers from Indiana played ping pong with people in the square, three officers kicked around a soccer ball with children, and the city’s police chief joined demonstrators in a prayer circle one afternoon. A group offered free hugs in the early evening.