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Day One of the 2012 RNC: Roving Radical Dance Party, 8/27/12: photos
Earlier on the Day One of the 2012 Republican National convention there had been two marches. The first was the permitted March on the RNC, confronting the prejudicial policies of republicans, demostrats, and our electoral system in general. Approximately 300 people marched through downtown Tampa to the designated "Free Speech Zone," with rallies on both ends of the march. The second was the unpermitted March for Our Lives, demanding economic justice for this country's poor people. It was about 500 people strong with a rally at Romneyville beforehand, but the march for economic justice was stopped by an overwhelming force of hundreds of riot police and deputies. That evening at 11pm, another unpermitted protest happened in nearby Ybor City, which is inside the northeast corner of the RNC security "Event Zone." That was the the Roving Radical Dance Party, the most lively and defiant action of the day.
[Pictured above: the Golden Calf, er, Elephant of the GOP. Base reads "Occupy Tampa", one of the very last occupy encampments in the U.S. today.]
After some singing and dancing in Ybor Centenial Park, nearly two hundred participants cranked up a boom box and headed off with their Golden Elephant leading the march to dance through the streets of Ybor City. Ybor City is an older neighborhood with brick streets and trolley cars, converted over the last several decades into an upscale cigar bar and nightclub district. Patrons of the local bars, some of whom were out of town republican delegates, looked on with curiosity as the march passed, many taking photos with their phones. Some of the patrons joined in and danced.
Interestingly, for San Francisco Bay Area folks, the dance party at one point chanted, "From Oakland to Greece, resist the police," which then evolved into, "From Tampa to Greece," and finally, "From Ybor to Greece, resist the police."
A handful of police were waiting in the park for the publicly-announced action to begin -- and were present throughout, as they are everywhere inside and nearby the "Event Zone" -- but it wasn't until about a half hour into the radical dance party that police began to mass en force, blocking side streets with their bicycles as they attempted to redirect the march. From there, it turned into a cat and mouse game, with the roving dance party avoiding being entrapped as the number of police grew to perhaps over a hundred officers.
After an hour and a half of dancing, and cat and mouse with police, the dance party found it's way to a large club called The Castle, where the Golden Elephant was saved from confiscation by going into the club with a number of the marchers. A majority of marchers slowly made a graceful exit from the area and eventually the police themselves dispersed. There were no arrests.
Previous coverage
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March for Our Lives, 8/27/12: video
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/30/18720617.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March for Our Lives, 8/27/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720574.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: Videographers Detained, 8/27/12: photos & video
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720549.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March on the RNC, 8/27/12: video
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720528.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March on the RNC, 8/27/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720513.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: Welcome to the Ghost Town/Police State of Tampa, 8/27/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/28/18720494.php
Eve of 2012 RNC: Disruptions and Marches Begin, Convention Delayed Due to Storm, 8/26/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/27/18720374.php
Lead-Up to 2012 RNC: Anarchists, IEDs, Guy Fawkes, Feces, Drones & a Tampa Police State, 8/25/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/26/18720300.php
Video - 2012 RNC: Fear Mongering, Undercover Cops, and the Corporate Media
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/26/18720306.php
Much more coverage at
After some singing and dancing in Ybor Centenial Park, nearly two hundred participants cranked up a boom box and headed off with their Golden Elephant leading the march to dance through the streets of Ybor City. Ybor City is an older neighborhood with brick streets and trolley cars, converted over the last several decades into an upscale cigar bar and nightclub district. Patrons of the local bars, some of whom were out of town republican delegates, looked on with curiosity as the march passed, many taking photos with their phones. Some of the patrons joined in and danced.
Interestingly, for San Francisco Bay Area folks, the dance party at one point chanted, "From Oakland to Greece, resist the police," which then evolved into, "From Tampa to Greece," and finally, "From Ybor to Greece, resist the police."
A handful of police were waiting in the park for the publicly-announced action to begin -- and were present throughout, as they are everywhere inside and nearby the "Event Zone" -- but it wasn't until about a half hour into the radical dance party that police began to mass en force, blocking side streets with their bicycles as they attempted to redirect the march. From there, it turned into a cat and mouse game, with the roving dance party avoiding being entrapped as the number of police grew to perhaps over a hundred officers.
After an hour and a half of dancing, and cat and mouse with police, the dance party found it's way to a large club called The Castle, where the Golden Elephant was saved from confiscation by going into the club with a number of the marchers. A majority of marchers slowly made a graceful exit from the area and eventually the police themselves dispersed. There were no arrests.
Previous coverage
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March for Our Lives, 8/27/12: video
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/30/18720617.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March for Our Lives, 8/27/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720574.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: Videographers Detained, 8/27/12: photos & video
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720549.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March on the RNC, 8/27/12: video
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720528.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: March on the RNC, 8/27/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/29/18720513.php
Day One of the 2012 RNC: Welcome to the Ghost Town/Police State of Tampa, 8/27/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/28/18720494.php
Eve of 2012 RNC: Disruptions and Marches Begin, Convention Delayed Due to Storm, 8/26/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/27/18720374.php
Lead-Up to 2012 RNC: Anarchists, IEDs, Guy Fawkes, Feces, Drones & a Tampa Police State, 8/25/12: photos
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/26/18720300.php
Video - 2012 RNC: Fear Mongering, Undercover Cops, and the Corporate Media
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/08/26/18720306.php
Much more coverage at
For more information:
http://www.indybay.org/RNC2012
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