News

Cleveland Gets Ready To Rock The RNC: Day Zero in Pictures

By Andrew Meyer, Desmond Meagley and Soraya Shockley
07.18.16
Cleveland Gets Ready To Rock The RNC: Day Zero in Pictures (On the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena, site of the 2016 Republican National Convention. )
On the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena, site of the 2016 Republican National Convention.
On the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena, site of the 2016 Republican National Convention.

Youth Radio landed in Cleveland, Ohio ahead of the Republican National Convention. Our reporters headed out to different corners of downtown to uncover the lay of the land. From a peace vigil to a lively anti-establishment protest all the way into the heart of the event: the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena.

Here are some of our favorite images from Day Zero of the convention.

 
Hope Memorial Bridge (Chaz Hubbard)
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the Hope Memorial Bridge for a locally organized event called Circle The City With Love where they participated in a half-hour long moment of silence.
 
Demonstrators took to the Hope Memorial Bridge in Cleveland to #StandForLove (Chaz Hubbard/Youth Radio)

 

Hundreds joined hands on the Hope Memorial Bridge. (Chaz Hubbard/Youth Radio)

Across town a smaller, but altogether louder, group of activists from a cross-section of organizations gathered for an march to denounce candidate Donald Trump, the RNC, and the mainstream political parties as a whole. Their aim: to give voice to those who they see as oppressed and marginalized by establishment politics. A taste, perhaps, of what’s to come.

 
The crowd gathers at a corner in Midtown, ready to march towards the Quicken Loans Arena, site of the DNC. (Noah Nelson/Youth Radio)
 
March organizers negotiate the route for the protest with the Cleveland Police Department in the minutes before starting. (Noah Nelson/Youth Radio)
A contingent from CODEPINK joined the march against Trump. (Desmond Meagley/Youth Radio)
 
Protesters with anti-capitalist, pro-Black Lives Matter, and anti-fascist signs reflect the wide range of concerns shared by this multi-generational, ethnically diverse group. (Desmond Meagley/Youth Radio)

Meanwhile, at the Quicken Loans Arena — better known locally as “The Q” — reporter Soraya Shockley had a chance to tour the floor of the convention floor where delegates will gather to nominate Donald Trump for president.

 

A triptych of photos from the floor of “The Q.” (Brett Myers/Youth Radio)

Outside the Arena, within the security perimeter, Soraya ran into this familiar face.

 
Why yes, that is Trevor Noah of The Daily Show. And yes, this is now her FB profile pic. (Soraya Shockley/Youth Radio)
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