AP Photo/Morry Gash
Security at a major party’s presidential nominating convention is always a major undertaking, and officials in charge of security for the upcoming Republican National Convention announced Friday that a park nearby the convention venue would be within a perimeter that would not allow protests.
During the past few months, multiple “prominent Republicans,” including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), had raised concerns about Père Marquette Park, the largest city park near the Fiserv Forum where former President Donald Trump is scheduled to officially become the GOP presidential nominee.
According to The Washington Post, the issue was hotly debated between Trump campaign representatives, GOP officials, the Secret Service (tasked with protecting Trump both as a former president and as a major party nominee), and local Wisconsin officials.
The concerns were not necessarily that Trump himself would be endangered but that Père Marquette Park was adjacent to where convention goers would have to walk, and that could result in clashes between protesters and the RNC attendees.
In the Google Map embedded below, Père Marquette Park can be seen just to the southeast of Fiserv Forum.
Screenshot via Google Maps of Père Marquette Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
City and federal officials held a joint press conference in Milwaukee Friday, reported the Post, and clarified that Père Marquette Park was within the “inner security perimeter” for the convention, where only pass-holding attendees, staff, and volunteers are able to enter.
Instead, the officials said, protesters would be allowed at two other nearby areas where vehicles will be screened by security but are still open to the public, Haymarket Square Park, northeast of Fiserv Forum, and Zeidler Union Square, five blocks to the south.
Still, there remains a dispute over whether these alternatives satisfy the legal requirement for a designated protest zone that is within “sight and sound” of the convention venue, and the ACLU of Wisconsin had already filed a lawsuit on those grounds earlier this month.
The organization responded to the announcement with a statement Friday that it was “surprised and disappointed” by the decision, calling it “an impermissible concession to the Republican National Committee, which did not want to see or hear demonstrators near its convention.”
The RNC will take place July 15 through 18 in Milwaukee.
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