Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, had to break out non-lethal measures for crowd control Sunday night after protesters, in town to demonstrate against President Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention, which kicks off Monday, blocked roads and vehicles and “interfered” with officers making an arrest.
As The Daily Wire reported Sunday, protesters invaded Charlotte over the weekend, holding a series of demonstrations designed to draw attention from the Republican convention, which will hold a select number of meetings at the city’s convention center. President Donald Trump and other keynote speakers will deliver remarks from their home cities via video link.
“The second night of protests against the Republican National Convention in Charlotte saw at least 100 people march in uptown then through part of South End,” The Daily Wire noted, per the Charlotte Observer. “Several arrests were made after midnight. The night’s protests were overwhelmingly non-violent but, at times, tense. Police used pepper spray on the crowd multiple times.”
Sunday night — the third night of demonstrations — police broke out non-lethal means of crowd control again, though the demonstrations went from “tense” to “confrontational” according to Fox News and The Associated Press.
“Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said in a string of tweets that officers deployed pepper spray and made two arrests while clearing roads that were filled with demonstrators who began to march throughout uptown Charlotte on Sunday,” the outlet noted.
“Crowds continued to block traffic and prevent buses and cars from moving. Demonstrators refused to clear the intersection. While officers were clearing the intersection, they deployed pepper spray and made two arrests,” the police added on social media, noting that crowds of protesters were thicker and more aggressive Sunday than they had been earlier in the weekend.
“Demonstrators are beginning to move barricades, construction cones, and trash cans to block roads and impede traffic on Tryon Street,” the police department added later.
Around 10:40 pm local time, officers said, demonstrators turned on law enforcement, attacking officers and interfering with arrests.
“A slow driving vehicle was surrounded by demonstrators and prevented from leaving the area. Officers intervened and were assaulted by demonstrators,” the police department said on Twitter.
Both parties’ political conventions are typically marked with protests, and in years where the parties hold largely in-person gatherings, “demonstration spaces” are often set aside. This year, however, the novel coronavirus is preventing both Republicans and Democrats from holding their full conventions in a single location.
A national atmosphere of unrest, as well, has law enforcement officials concerned that Charlotte could be a magnet for riots or violence of the kind associated with demonstrations in other large cities like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.
So far, Charlotte police say, they’ve arrested just 12 people. The Republican National Convention continues through Thursday, when President Donald Trump will accept the Republican party’s nomination from the lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C.