With the GOP convention just days away, Ohio authorities “have been collecting intelligence on extremist groups to identify any possible threats,” reports the New York Times.
Among the extremist groups expected to rally around Donald Trump in Cleveland are white nationalist groups American Freedom Party, Blood and Honour and the Traditionalist Worker Party, which, along with a number of skinheads, was involved in brutal stabbings in California last month.
The group’s leader told McClatchy that they planned to attend the convention to “make sure that the Donald Trump supporters are defended.”
Another extremist group planning on attending the convention is the Westboro Baptist Church, whose few dozen members have been known for protesting the funerals of fallen military service-members and LGBT Americans with homophobic and incendiary signs.
CNN reports that while at least 72 kinds of “weapons, gadgets and assorted hardware” have been explicitly banned from the event zone around the convention — including mattresses and light bulbs — guns are not on the list.
“Ohio is an open-carry state, so local officials said they cannot prevent licensed gun owners from carrying their weapons around the external security perimeter.”
While “Cleveland is bringing in roughly 2,500 law enforcement officers from as far away as California, Texas and Florida to bolster its own convention-dedicated force of about 500 officers,” local Ohio affiliate WCBE noted that Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott said he had rescinded his offer to send more than 30 deputies to Cleveland to assist with security because “city officials did not adequately address his concerns over insurance coverage for deputies who may be facing violence during the convention.”
Additionally, “police officials in Greensboro, North Carolina recently decided not to send officers to the convention. Cincinnati police also declined Cleveland’s request for officers.”
Here at America’s Voice we’ve launched a new web site, RepublicanNativistConvention.com, to keep track of each Republican governor, Senator, and Congressman who is publicly asked about his support for Trump’s candidacy, and refused to disavow him after his racist and incendiary remarks.
