MILWAUKEE (AP) — People will be allowed to carry guns inside the grounds of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month and protesters will have two stages, one within sight of the convention arena, under a security plan released by local and federal authorities. Friday.
The plan comes in the wake of a federal lawsuit that demands that protesters be allowed to be within sight and hearing of the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee.
The plan calls for two roughly circular perimeters that extend for blocks around the arena. Vehicles will have to pass through checkpoints to travel between the two borders. Pedestrians will be able to move freely without being tracked in that area. Only convention goers will be allowed inside the inner perimeter.
No weapons of any kind will be permitted within the interior perimeter, but people may carry weapons openly or concealed elsewhere as permitted by state law. Wisconsin statutes only prohibit machine guns, sawed-off shotguns and silencers.
“It’s a question of behavior,” said Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman. “So understand that there will be this level of surveillance and monitoring that is the specific right that you would like to express. Just don’t do anything that could be considered a threat or harm to the public.”
More than 100 organizations have signed up to speak at the convention so far, Nick DeSiato, Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s chief of staff, said during a news conference.
The Coalition to March on the RNC, a group of local and national organizations that includes the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America, the immigrant advocacy group Voces de La Frontera and the American Labor Party, planned a protest parade on the first day of the convention.
The coalition says it has been trying to obtain authorization for the parade since April 2023, but municipal authorities have not yet granted it. The city has also been slow to clear a parade route, the coalition claims, raising fears that the city will not allow protesters to be within sight of the arena.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the coalition on June 5, alleging that the delay in clearing a route amounts to a denial, in violation of the coalition’s free speech rights.
The ACLU asked U.S. District Judge Brett Ludwig to issue an injunction forcing the city to designate a route within sight and hearing of the arena and to immediately process the coalition’s permit requests. Ludwig scheduled a scheduling conference for the case on Monday.
The security plan released Friday by authorities establishes a parade route just at the southern end of the outer perimeter, about five blocks from the arena, with a stage for speakers within the route.
Asked if he believes the route will satisfy the coalition, DeSiato said it runs along the inner perimeter fence and is the closest authorities can get protesters to the arena when considering exit points and vehicle access. emergency. He said configuring the route was a “very complicated mathematical problem.”
The plan also establishes a stage for protest speakers at the northern end of the perimeter, about a block from the Fiserv Forum.
DeSiato said the city will provide a sound system for speakers on both stages, but each speaker will be limited to 20 minutes to ensure everyone has a chance to speak.
ACLU attorney Tim Muth said in a statement that the organization was “surprised and disappointed” by the size of the interior perimeter. The large radius makes it more important for the city to allow free speech and assembly, he said, and promised to continue the process.
“We hope for a quick decision that vindicates the Coalition’s plan for a march that passes within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum,” he said.
