Anti-Trump protesters are expected to demonstrate outside of the presidential debate on Tuesday night.
“We face a rolling coup barreling to a showdown on November 3rd. The Trump/Pence regime has said and shown that they will not abide by an election they lose,” Coco Das, a member of the Refuse Fascism editorial board, said in a statement.
The Refuse Fascism group, which seeks to remove President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence from office, is promoting a protest at Case Western University, the location of the first of three scheduled presidential debates, which it said will begin hours before Trump and Biden are set to take the stage.
“The regime — Trump, Pence, Barr — has raised the specter of insurrection and sedition. It is tearing up the rule of law,” organizers of the Cleveland rally added. “It demonizes and brutalizes immigrants, Black people, Latinos, Native Americans, women, LGBTQ people, the media and peaceful protesters. It opposes science, leading to a country and a planet burning and drowning, and to unconscionable unnecessary death and illness from COVID.”
The Cleveland Police Department is set to close specific roads and will increase its presence to ensure there is no violence outside the event, according to Fox News. Last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine agreed to deploy approximately 300 National Guardsmen after receiving a formal request, but officials decided not to issue a curfew preemptively, according to WKYC.
The local Black Lives Matter chapter will also be hosting a protest on Tuesday.
“We are looking to get together and have a peaceful demonstration and talk about the issues as it relates to Cleveland. This presidential debate has just created chaos within the city,” said LaTonya Goldsby, the president of Cleveland’s BLM chapter.
