🦄 Protest & Direct Action

DNC Day 2 – Protesters Pepper-Sprayed & Climb Security Fence as Thousands March on DNC

By Unicorn Riot

Philadelphia, PA – Day two of the Democratic National Convention featured protests by delegates inside the convention and thousands of protesters with high emotions outside. Bernie Sanders submitted his concession to the DNC in a speech imploring his supporters to vote Hillary.

Unicorn Riot was live on and off throughout the day.

Around 3 p.m. Black Lives Matter Philadelphia organized the ‘Black Resistance March’ that started in North Philadelphia. The event began with an organizer reading a long list of names of black people murdered by police or vigilantes, and handed out dozens of signs bearing the names of the deceased.

There was a coffin representing the DNC that was marched all the way to FDR Park.

The march walked about 6 miles from North Philly to City Hall, and then to FDR Park and converged with other crowds outside the security fence at the entrance to the DNC. The length of the march took 6 hours for the participants to finish.

Meanwhile, at the gates lining the security perimeter, large groups of protesters held signs against the fence, shaking it and chanting things like “Hell no DNC, we won’t vote for Hillary” and “Election Fraud.”

As some delegates left the convention, Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Cheri Honkala was detained for defiantly sitting down.

At one point, police officers from Homeland Security and the Secret Service pepper-sprayed protesters through the fence. Four people, including a woman who had just been pepper-sprayed, climbed over the security perimeter and were promptly arrested.

A loud and agitated crowd was present outside the DNC well into the night. At one point two different marching crowds converged near FDR park underneath a highway overpass and several Philadelphia police vehicles appeared to be caught in the mass of people.  This created a tense and chaotic scene as police pushed their way out of the crowd:

 

As the large march of people returned to the area by the DNC perimeter, the fence continued to be surrounded by an angry crowd ranging from disillusioned Bernie Sanders voters to militant black bloc anarchists.

Later in the night, as riot cops stood firm behind the fence, bike police formed a line to protect the gate of Citizens Bank Park which had been shaken by protesters.

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Categories: Protest & Direct Action
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Published July 27, 2016
More from Unicorn Riot 🦄

DNC Day 1 – Thousands March Against Hillary & Election Fraud

DNC Day 3 – Disenfranchised Populace Storms the Gates of DNC