Presidential candidate and political satirist Vermin Supreme relishes those tense moments when free speech is tested.
That's what he'll do when Cleveland hosts the Republican National Convention in July, standing between protesters and police, bullhorn in hand, reciting the Constitution with a galosh on his head.
"And being a clown and looking for a lot of fun and seeking the nomination of the Republican Party because I hear it could be a full-on contested convention — a cluster f***," he said.
A First Amendment advocate and long-shot candidate who's promised everyone ponies, Supreme illustrates the whimsy and seriousness of the rabble-rousing hordes set to descend on Cleveland.
They'll be loud, rowdy and spirited, adding thousands to the 35,000 visiting Republicans and 15,000 journalists. They'll march through streets, pitch tents in parks and take up such issues as poverty, gun violence, racism and economic inequality.
Social activists, anarchists and dissidents from Florida, New York, North Carolina, Cuyahoga Falls and Cleveland say as many as 5,000 protesters could march down Euclid Avenue on the opening day of the convention.
Records withheld
How many will come? Dan Williams, spokesman for the city of Cleveland, has "no idea."
Williams said Cleveland won't release copies of the permits filed by protesters who seek public land or are planning demonstrations, which could disrupt traffic and test law enforcement.
Citing security issues, Williams said, "We're not going to be discussing who's asking for what." The Secret Service and local law enforcement will designate official protest locations about two weeks ahead of the opening.
Staging a fight
While Republicans meet for four days inside the tightly guarded Quicken Loans Arena to choose their standard-bearer, it's the people outside who have the greatest potential for mischief.
Fists and expletives have been exchanged between supporters and protesters at Donald Trump rallies, and the Republican front-runner has warned that riots will ensue if he's denied the nomination because of political maneuvering by the party elite.
That all will unfold publicly inside the Q or in private conversations among party leadership. Outside the arena is where malcontent could foment violence.
Peace and protest
Navy veteran and anti-war activist John Penley is planning for peace.
He's requested a permit to turn a yet-to-be-determined city park into a safe zone for protesters to call home.
The North Carolina man praised the hospitality in Charlotte, where he was arrested while protesting at the Democratic convention, and in Tampa during the largely peaceful Republican event.
"Tampa had the parks department come by with ice, water and Gatorade," Penley told Cleveland's Office of Special Events and Marketing. "And Charlotte set up portable toilets and access to water in a downtown city park.
"In both cases these gestures of kindness sent a message to protesters that both cities cared for the welfare of protesters and I believe contributed to making both conventions much more peaceful events," he said.
Penley, a former photojournalist and one of the first to participate in Occupy Wall Street (according to those who know him), once hid out at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, while running from a lengthy jail sentence for an unlawful protest at a South Carolina nuclear refinement and waste facility.
His attorney, a former New York lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said Cleveland officials have been reasonable and accommodating with their demands.
'Trumpville'
Penley's camp could resemble Romneyville, said Bruce Wright, host of the Clearwater, Fla.-based Revolutionary Road Radio Show, a broadcast for social activists.
Wright helped Penley organize the camp at the 2012 RNC in Tampa. Formerly homeless, Wright is a minister fighting poverty at Refugee Ministries in St. Petersburg. He's coined the Cleveland camp Trumpville and another, planned for the Democratic convention the next week in Philadelphia, Clintonville.
The Cleveland camp will be populated by the poor and homeless to bring attention to poverty, Wright and Penley said.
The camp will be secured by members of Veterans for Peace, an anti-war advocacy group. A Gold Star mother whose son died in Iraq will keep communication open between law enforcement and the veterans.
"I don't really think I would mind if Trump supporters want to come over there and debate," Penley said of potential conflicts between his fans and foes. "But if they cause trouble, I'm going to ask for space across the street for them to set up. I don't want to abridge anyone's freedom of speech, but I don't want anyone to get hurt."
Right down Euclid
Penley, Wright, Supreme and dozens more plan to walk in a massive march coordinated locally by Larry Bresler, director of Organize Ohio.
The social science professor at Case Western University pulled a city permit for what he expects to be a 5,000-person rally east of downtown on Euclid Avenue at noon July 18. The procession will move toward the heart of the city at 1 p.m., veering as close to the Q as Secret Service will allow before ending near Progressive Field.
The parade has attracted interest from 27 local organizations — from labor unions to Black Lives Matter of Cuyahoga County.
Bresler, along with planning the march, is reaching out to local churches to provide lodging for out-of-town demonstrators.
Dissident convention
An effort to host 300 to 500 activists at a three-day People's Convention has yet to find a home.
Greg Coleridge, a director for American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker-related social action organization, is leading the effort from his organization's regional office in Cuyahoga Falls.
"What we hope to do in this convention is have people speak in workshops," said Coleridge, "but at the end produce what will be called the people's platform, which will contain planks that we will be presenting.
"We plan to get as close to the Q and deliver them to the delegates and leadership. This is trans-partisan. We're not just picking on the Republicans. This is for people who we think have been largely ignored by leaders of both political parties."
Doug Livingston can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @ABJDoug.