Cleveland, OH: Counter ‘Spirit of America’ Protest

On March 4th, grassroots groups organized a counter protest against a ‘Spirit of America’ event held in Cleveland, OH including the IWW, Food Not Bombs, Antifascist Cleveland, Bash Back, and many more. All off the groups of North East Ohio have banded together in solidarity against the atrocities of this administration.

As the liberal crowd gathered in protest, they distanced themselves from the anti-police slurs we belted out, as a police line kept protesters yards away from the stage and shoddy country music. The Cleveland Police Department whose union pulled for Trump, allowed rowdy Trump supporters to break the line (even though it was few who were brave) to cross over to instigate alterations with counter-protesters.

A Trump supporter approached some folks with his shitty rhetoric and the unoriginal, “If you don’t like it get out.” In response a fellow worker from the local IWW chapter confronted him. The man suggested we take up arms in the U.S. military. When asked about if he served the man claimed we was apart of a make believe unit of snipers. With our comrade with astute knowledge of the military called him out as a fraud, the man admitted to it and claimed his ‘bad neck’ prevented him from enlisting.

Another incident occurred on that day that generated more concern and severity on our side as he was leaving. One of our own got right back in his face in regards to his typical Trump obscenities. His hands went up to her chest and he immediately went back to walking away. She yelled something about him touching or grabbing her chest. A female Trump supporter that was behind that guy, but didn’t appear to be with him, shouted something like, “Who would want to?” It’s a sickening event knowing that someone could assault someone and CPD doesn’t care. This person didn’t deserve hands on them, nor should the CPD go out of their way to incite an altercation.

This demonstration was a wonderful show of solidarity however, and shows the coming together of several groups to work in solidarity.

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