Photos: Activists 'Wall Off' The RNC To Protest Trump's Immigration Agenda

By aaroncynic in News on Jul 20, 2016 6:53PM

Immigration rights activists and other demonstrators built a wall of canvas Wednesday morning outside the Quicken Loans Arena at the 2016 Republican National Convention to send a message to Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump that they won’t stand for xenophobic rhetoric or policies.

Singing “the walls that they built to tear us apart will never be as strong as the walls of our hearts” and “wall off Trump,” they marched from the Public Square to the entrance of the convention center, where they unfurled hundreds of feet of canvas, stretching more than a city block in downtown Cleveland.

“Humanity is at the core of this, and this is why we’re at the core,” said Neal, who traveled from Washington, D.C. “Look how diverse this line is...Donald Trump couldn’t pass a college history class. He shouldn’t be running our country.”

This wall is *long* #RNCinCLE #RNC2016 #WallOffTrump #ResistRNC pic.twitter.com/eloXZDELd2

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic) July 20, 2016

Now: #WallOffTrump activists singing thru media row at #RNCinCLE #ResistRNC pic.twitter.com/cc3bpEp8Ls

— Aaron Cynic (@aaroncynic) July 20, 2016

The action was organized by the Ruckus Society, a non-violent civil disobedience training organization, and Mijente, an immigrants rights group. They were joined by several groups that have been protesting the convention all week, including Iraq Veterans Against the War, the Working Families Party, Grassroots Global Justice and Code Pink. An indiegogo for the project netted more than $16,000.

“Standing with front-line communities to create a line of defense against Trump’s hate and racism is all of our responsibility,” Eva Carendas of the Ruckus Society said. “We’re not just sending a message against Trump, we’re calling on everyone to stand up and take responsibility for the future of this country.”

Alice Newberry from Code Pink, who has staged several protests throughout the week, including bringing 500 tennis balls inside the “security zone,” where they are banned, said she joined the demonstration to stand in solidarity.

“We’re good friends with these organizations,” Newberry told Chicagoist. With these kinds of issues there’s a lot of intersectionality. We share the same values. We all want peace.”