Few Nevadans in protest scene

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA -- A search for Nevadans among the throngs of protesters at the Republican National Convention revealed only a glimpse of this historic city and a suggestion on where to get a decent cheesesteak -- but not one Silver Stater.

"Las Vegas really isn't a hotbed for social activism," one nose-pierced veteran activist explained. "It's known for other things."

Protesters have been a passing interest to the 15,000 credentialed media covering the political action. They were front page news today across the nation for their skirmishes with police Tuesday. Police say 285 were arrested after roving bands of 30 to 300 protesters tied up traffic and vandalized a few areas of downtown.

They vow more mayhem, but so far the convention has not been disrupted and only a few serious injuries have been reported, including four officers briefly hospitalized when protesters threw a "toxic substance" on them, police told the newspaper.

The protesters' often disorganized leaders, spontaneous outbursts and scattered causes -- ranging from global environment to police brutality and freedom for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal -- make them hard to track for reporters looking for a back-home angle:

1:30 p.m. Tuesday -- A rumor among some media outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center downtown put one group of protesters -- and maybe a Nevadan or two? -- at the Quaker Information Center. But after some waiting around, only a few showed.

"I'm sure there are Nevadans in Philadelphia, there are people from all over the country," one protest organizer said, sounding hopeful. She said other organizers were directing media to a grassy expanse called Eakins Oval in front of the celebrated Philadelphia Art Museum, perhaps most famous for its stairs conquered by movie boxer Rocky Balboa.

3 p.m., Eakins Oval. Five protesters and 35 reporters.

"Protesters from Nevada? No!" said a woman who gave her name as Beautiful Africa, a representative for the People of Color Direct Action Network. (Like many Easterners, she mispronounced Nevada.)

Jia Ching Chen, a San Francisco 27-year-old organizer of Just Act and Youth Action for Global Justice, added, "Las Vegas has a large population of color there and a large working class -- I don't know where their protesters are."

He suggested two other sites, where "affinity groups" (protesters) might be "staging direct actions" (protests).

3:45 p.m. -- 19th Street and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. No protesters. Nine police squad cars and lots of cops. A brief chat with a soundman from the local National Public Radio affiliate reveals that local eateries called Pat's, Geno's and Mike's make a good Philly cheesesteak, this town's signature sandwich.

4:22 p.m. -- A tense stand-off between roughly 40 protesters and as many police is brewing a block from the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Police stand in a line shoulder-to-shoulder with clubs drawn just a few feet from a chain of protesters sitting in the street with arms locked, blocking traffic. (Inquiries reveal no Nevadans are among the group, although Brian Getz, a 22-year-old from Vermont carrying a "Bush is a Murderer" sign says he was in Las Vegas in 1998 for a Phish show. "I haven't really met any protesters from Vegas, but we met some kids there who were down with what we're about.")

When police bring in a school bus to haul off the protesters -- mostly grubby teens and twenty-somethings chanting "People united can never be divided!" -- they get up and move to a new intersection a few blocks away, promptly plopping down to block a city bus. Several get arrested in a scuffle with police in which an officer's walkie-talkie clatters to the sidewalk. An onlooker with cherry-red dyed hair snatches it up and speaks into the receiver, "This is the police," before an officer grabs it back.

5:08 p.m. -- After police disperse the group again, it begins to disband. A cluster of six heads toward Philadelphia City Hall, where a few hours later about 25 mounted police will clash with roughly 100 protesters. The 99-year-old storied historic landmark, billed as the largest municipal building in the nation, is capped by a 37-foot statue of William Penn, a state founder and advocate of the democracy practiced by protesters. But not Nevadans.

"I've never met any protesters from Nevada," said one of the six, Danielle Zielinski, 18, who has been to protests in her hometown New York City and Washington, D.C. "I've never met anyone from Nevada period. You're the first."