No trust between RNC march organizers and Milwaukee officials ahead of convention

As the Republican National Convention (RNC) is set to begin next week, officials in Milwaukee remain at odds with groups hoping to hold a protest within sight and sound of the convention. Talks between the Coalition to March on the RNC, an umbrella group that includes dozens of organizations, and the city never resulted in the approval of a permit.

The conflict played out in federal court, with the coalition arguing that restricting where and how a protest can be held infringes on protesters’ freedom of speech — an argument that was rejected by a federal judge. RNC leaders have called on the U.S. Secret Service and Milwaukee officials to ensure that no protest is held within the RNC’s security footprint, which has expanded, pushing any proposed march route even farther away from the main event.

Coalition members have repeatedly said they plan to march with or without the city’s approval. The coalition plans to hold a non-violent, family friendly protest. At the same time, they express concerns about the potential for law enforcement to use crowd control methods, such as tear gas or rubber bullets, to discourage, disperse or quell unsanctioned demonstrations

Omar Flores, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the RNC, said Republican officials’ comments that Milwaukee is a violent city and that protesters need to be contained are stoking irrational fears. “We’re not getting into the Republican agenda that it’s going to be like pure chaos, and everything’s just going to go out the window. We’re going to show up in force, we’re going to show up in numbers, and we’re going to fully exercise our First Amendment rights.” Still, there is a persistent lack of trust between Coalition activists and city officials. That distrust stems in part from events in 2020, with the police department having since admitted to making misleading statements about protester violence. According to records recently obtained by the Examiner, city officials also discussed disguising the purchase of pepper spray ahead of the 2020 Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Pulling strings for pepper spray

Although MPD has left non-violent street protests and demonstrations alone in recent years, when protesters took to the streets in response to the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, there were clashes in Milwaukee between protesters and law enforcement.

On the first night of protest, officers fired tear gas and rubber bullets on a crowd gathered outside MPD’s District 5 station. Several businesses were looted and burned in the hours after midnight, following the largely non-violent marches which occurred during the day. Gov. Tony Evers called in the National Guard, and a curfew was declared in the city.

During one of the daytime marches, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse a crowd. MPD said the crowd threw objects at the officers, which were possibly Molotov cocktails. Skepticism of the claims quickly spread from people who were in the protest crowd that day, to members of the city’s common council. While investigations into the incident commenced, the Fire and Police Commission directed MPD to cease using tear gas and pepper spray. Several common council members also raised concerns about MPD’s crowd control measures, with the elected body opting to cancel a planned purchase of more tear gas and pepper spray for MPD in June 2020.

The move set loose a domino effect of police departments reneging on their agreements to assist in policing the DNC. “City Council’s decision to limit/eliminate some necessary tools and protective equipment for those working the convention concerns us for the safety of our officers,” wrote Wausau Police Department Lt. John Phillips in an email obtained by Wisconsin Examiner through records requests. The sentiment was echoed in other emails from other law enforcement officials.

As agencies pulled out, members of the FPC claimed that the tear gas and pepper spray restrictions were being distorted and exploited. By July 6 2020, the MPD tallied 93 agencies — collectively providing 1,845 personnel — that had pulled out of the DNC. But due to COVID, over 50 of those agencies had already pulled out before George Floyd’s death, and before protests began in Milwaukee.

Nick DeSiato, now Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s chief of staff, was chief of staff for the Milwaukee Police Department at the time. As agencies pulled out in July 2020, DeSiato sent out an email with the subject line “Rename for Bid.” DeSiato wrote in the email, “per our DNC team: Anthropogenic dispenser.” City Purchasing Director Rhonda Kelsey replied to DeSiato, “are you serious?” Unsure what DeSiato was talking about, Kelsey did some research then asked the chief of staff, “is this essentially pepper spray?” An email sent later in the chain confirmed, “yes it is.” The emails, obtained through an open records request, suggests that city officials changed terminology to avoid controversy in a bid for a law enforcement tool that was causing tension within the city government, and leading to a crisis of agencies retracting their commitments to help police the DNC.

MPD told the Examiner it had no information on the bid renaming. Jeff Fleming, spokesperson for Mayor Johnson, told Wisconsin Examiner, “People directly involved — including Nick DeSiato — do not have recollection of this email exchange.” Fleming also relayed comments from Kelsey who said that the first bid for pepper spray was released in June 2020, then pulled. “The description that we used at that time was aerosol projector irritant,” Kelsey said. “I recall that ultimately legislation was created by the Common Council directing MPD to notify the council of such purchases before they were made — not prohibited. We did ultimately issue a bid for OC or pepper spray in July of 2020 and it was publicly noticed with the wording Pepper Spray in the bid solicitation.” Kelsey added, “Expenditures were not made against the contract” and that “this is likely due to the fact that the DNC was scaled back to a virtual event for the most part.” MPD has not submitted requests to the purchasing department for pepper spray ahead of the RNC, Kelsey said in a statement, relayed through Fleming.

Flores said the email only reinforces the lack of trust between local activists and city officials. “Looking at that now, it almost looks like he’s trying to speak in code,” Flores told Wisconsin Examiner. He added, “I think this is very typical of what we’ve seen with the city. Honestly, I mean, what we’re looking at is entirely a lack of transparency.”

During the DNC, police pushed for more surveillance gear in anticipation of protests, while also arguing that some contracts could be jettisoned due to the DNC’s downsizing. In late 2020, after the DNC ended, the MPD also admitted publicly that Molotov cocktails had not been thrown at officers during the daytime protests which were tear-gassed.

In 2021, the MPD also issued an apology letter after city auditors found that misleading information about the Molotovs, reductions to the police force and an increase in homicides had been put out on the department’s official Twitter page under the direction of then-Chief Alfonso Morales. “I do not condone either communication,” wrote Jeffrey Norman, who served as acting police chief at the time and remains chief today. “I agree that they are misleading, irresponsible and poorly reflect on not only the Milwaukee Police Department but also the entire City of Milwaukee.” Norman added, “put simply, those tweets are unacceptable.”

Today, activists and some city officials remain concerned about the possibility that police will use less-lethal munitions like pepper spray during the RNC. During the convention, MPD’s policies around timely release of video depicting uses of force will be suspended.

Tim Muth, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Wisconsin said, “Pepper spray, tear gas, rubber bullets, and other ‘nonlethal weapons’ are not just insignificant uses of force.”

“Beyond the serious injuries they can cause, recent experience in Milwaukee, Kenosha and around the country shows that the use of these weapons only escalates rather than de-escalates conflict,” Muth said. “We worry that the more available these weapons are in the hands of police, the more likely they are to be used against peaceful demonstrators.”

Flores hopes that MPD takes the same hands-off approach to protests during the RNC that it did during the DNC. “We’ve heard the feedback from other cities, and they were kind of shocked,” said Flores. “I remember specifically somebody from Chicago was like, ‘I mean, it’s kind of eerie that we’re just out here and the police aren’t trying to agitate.’ And it was good, right? We went through it without incident, we were able to march on the route that we wanted. You know, it wasn’t a big deal.”

By contrast, Flores has also experienced protests where police were more aggressive such as in Kenosha, “where the police almost made a point to antagonize people who were protesting.” In his experience, police taking an aggressive approach with protests only causes more conflict. Looking ahead to the RNC, Flores said, “We’re marching on the route that we want to. Regardless of whether or not we have a permit. The permit is just simply about how the city decides to react, you know? It’s not about how we react, we’re reacting the same way no matter what. So a permit would hopefully make an interaction with the police less likely. We’re not doing anything terrible. That’s never been our history as organizers.”

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