WATCH: City Removes Mississippi Flags From Broad Street
Police Commissioner Richard Ross (center) discusses protest marches on the first day of the DNC.
So far, so good.
That was the message Police Commissioner Richard Ross delivered late Monday afternoon, as protesters marched through the city amid record heat on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.
The most notable issue — aside from the suffocating humidity — was that a group of demonstrators had held a sit-in on Broad Street near Passyunk Avenue to protest the Mississippi state flag, which was dangling from a light pole.
Anti-Mississippi flag sit-in on Broad St is slowly shrinking as patient cops let hot weather do the work #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/iWE9GIossJ
— Steven Nelson (@stevennelson10) July 25, 2016
Another Mississippi state flag hung on Broad near Mifflin, said First Deputy Managing Director Brian Abernathy. Both were removed today because they attracted complaints from local residents who were upset by the Confederate emblems that are featured on the flags. (Mississippi residents voted in 2001 to keep the stars and bars on their flag, but the topic is still a source of intense controversy.)
“A number of neighbors had found the Confederate flag offensive,” he said. Flags from all 50 states were hung from light poles on South Broad Street in the run-up to the DNC.
“There was a good amount of people here already, but only about 12 of us stayed [from the Bernie Sanders march],” said Michelle Schellinger Gutierrez, who said she works in North Philly. “There has been three marches that have come through, and so people just keep staying and adding to the crowd.” Several hundred people surrounded the flag by the time it was taken down.
The second Mississippi state flag on South Broad Street has been taken down. #DemsinPhilly pic.twitter.com/gLLUy0xOgx
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) July 25, 2016
The protest has succeeded. The first Mississippi flag is down; a ladder is on its way to take down the other one. pic.twitter.com/tspQ3VIP6E
— Dan McQuade (@dhm) July 25, 2016
Otherwise, things have been going relatively smoothly. Ross said police haven’t made any arrests or issued any citations. The primary issue of the day has been keeping marchers and cops hydrated; Samantha Phillips, the city’s director of emergency management, said it felt like 109 degrees outside with the heat index factored in. Violent thunderstorms are expected again tonight. “We’re worried about everyone involved,” Ross said.
The commissioner was asked by a reporter to again weigh in on FOP president John McNesby’s recent criticism of Hillary Clinton for not having families of fallen police officers speak at the DNC. Ross demurred. “I have a convention to police,” he said.
Additional reporting by Dan McQuade.
