US Elections 2020: Protect the Vote protests held across country

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Election protests have descended into chaos in New York City where thousands of activists took to the streets to demand every vote be counted after President Trump falsely claimed victory amid a cliffhanger presidential race.

Crowds began mobilizing in Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue late Wednesday afternoon as part of several ‘Protect the Results’ demonstrations that kicked off in cities across the country including Philadelphia, Portland, Seattle, Detroit and Los Angeles. 

Protesters had marched down the iconic thoroughfare in a generally peaceful rally, while others convened in Washington Square Park as police officers in riot gear stood by in force. 

The demonstrations however took a violent turn by nightfall when messages in support of democracy devolved into anti-police rhetoric and some participants began setting fires and throwing projectiles on the streets. 

In the West Village, police officers moved on crowds while clashes erupted between cops and activists at a demonstration on Leroy Street and Seventh Avenue.  

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Footage shared on social media showed cops using heavy-handed crowd control tactics including kettling, by closing in on large groups before carrying out several arrests. 

More than 20 people had been arrested by 10pm Wednesday night, according to the NYPD. 

‘We appreciate and value the importance of freedom of speech. Our top priority is and always will be safety,’ police said in a statement. 

‘We have arrested more than 20 individuals who attempted to hijack a peaceful protest by lighting fires, throwing garbage and eggs in Manhattan.’

It comes after city and state officials had been bracing for potential unrest ahead of Election Day, with local businesses boarding up their property amid fears of violence and riots spurred by a potential Trump victory.  

But those concerns did not materialize on Tuesday which only saw scattered protests at the end of the night however, fears were heightened again on Wednesday after Trump called for voting to stop. 

In New York City, protests kicked off near the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue while other groups convened on 59th Street before marching down the street chanting ‘count every vote’ and ‘every vote counts’.

Other demonstrations were staged in Washington Square Park where a crowd of about 200 people got together while cops surrounded the area and police helicopters hovered above. 

Similar scenes unfolded in Philadelphia, where crowds marched past Independence Hall as they called for a fair count in the still-undecided contest. 

In Chicago, protesters demanding a complete count marched through downtown and along a street across the river from Trump Tower. 

Similar protests – sometimes about the election, sometimes about racial inequality – took place in at least a half-dozen cities, including Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and San Diego. 

In Los Angeles, the LAPD declared an unlawful assembly at a demonstration in the area of 5th and Hill Street due to a ‘large and unruly crowd.’ Police ordered everyone to leave the area after closing it off to the public.    

It came hours after the department declared its second tactical alert in two days as they prepared for a wave of ‘Count Every Vote’ marches in the city. 

The call requires all officers to go on duty to ‘ensure sufficient resources to address any incidents that may arise as a result of Election Day activities,’ the department said. 

The post-election mayhem also extended to Seattle and Portland which has already been roiled by five months of near-nightly racial injustice protests since the police killing of George Floyd.

On Wednesday, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office declared a riot around 7pm after protesters were seen smashing windows at businesses during a demonstration against Trump’s court challenges to stop the vote count in battleground states.  

At least eight arrests were made in Downtown Portland, authorities confirmed.   

 In the interest of public safety, Governor Kate Brown had also activated the use of the state National Guard to help local law enforcement manage the unrest, according to the sheriff’s office.

Brown said previously she would keep state troopers, sheriff´s deputies and police officers under a unified command into Friday in Portland to handle protests amid uncertainty over the winner of the presidential election. 

The Oregon National Guard had been on standby. Brown’s order places law enforcement agencies under the joint command of the Oregon State Police and Multnomah County Sheriff’s Department, which allows those agencies to use tear gas if necessary to quell unrest. 

Mayor Ted Wheeler, who is also police commissioner, banned the use of tear gas by Portland police earlier this fall after concerns about an overly aggressive response to the unrest.

Meanwhile in Michigan, while anti-Trump protesters across the country rallied for a complete count, dozens supporters of the president descended on a ballot-tallying center in Detroit chanting ‘Stop the count!’ 

It comes after Trump declared himself winner and vowed to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in on the inconclusive election. 

Earlier, the Republican campaign followed suit and urged officials to stop the count, demanding Michigan’s Democratic secretary of state allow in more inspectors after Biden was projected to be the winner in the state. 

Trump has repeatedly insisted without evidence that there are major problems with the voting and the counting and his remarks on Wednesday were the sort of call that protest organizers had planned for. 

The ‘Protect the Results’ coalition of over 130 groups, from Planned Parenthood to Republicans for the Rule of Law, has said it had about 500 protests organized around the country. 

The confrontation in Detroit started shortly before The Associated Press declared that former Vice President Joe Biden had won Michigan.

Video shot by local media showed angry people gathered outside the TCF Center and inside the lobby, with police officers lined up to keep them from entering the vote-counting area. They chanted, ‘Stop the count!’ and ‘Stop the vote!’ 

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, insisted both parties and the public had been given access to the tallying ‘using a robust system of checks and balances to ensure that all ballots are counted fairly and accurately.’

Michigan has been on edge for months over fears of political violence. Anti-government protesters openly carried guns into the state Capitol during protests over coronavirus restrictions in the spring, and six men were arrested last month on charges of plotting to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

On Election Night, scattered protests broke after voting ended, stretching from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, but there was no widespread unrest or significant violence.

The prolonged task of counting this year’s deluge of mail-in votes raised fears that the lack of clarity in the presidential race could spark unrest.