Those protesting DNC in Milwaukee will likely outnumber people in the city for the convention
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The Democratic National Convention will not be what it was in the past, so would-be volunteers like Milwaukee County Democratic Party Treasurer Dawn Martin aren’t needed.
“Once it was announced that the vice president wasn’t coming in, and none of these speakers were going to be coming in, it was obvious there was going to be a very decreased need for volunteers," Martin said.
The DNC said they will still gavel the convention in and out from Milwaukee. Governor Tony Evers, Senator Tammy Baldwin and Congresswoman Gwen Moore will take the Wisconsin Center stage, but there won’t be much local presence outside of officials.
So the Milwaukee County Democrats are setting up watch parties.
“We felt it was important to have opportunities, partly for -- it will be small groups of people, but also, frankly for the press to be able to talk to people,” Martin said.
Martin said there are a number of media members from outside the country that now have nobody available to speak to in Milwaukee, and they are trying to be accommodating.
The Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention still hopes to bring hundreds to the city to protest police brutality.
“Biden and the Democratic party has decided to stay home, abandon Milwaukee, and not face the movement for Black lives," Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention Co-Chair Ryan Hamann said. "That movement is still, you know, it still exists.”
Protesters plan to drop a banner with names of those killed by police every day of the convention and bring a crowd of hundreds to the city on Thursday, when Joe Biden is scheduled to speak from Delaware.
“We’re kind of like the only show in town, and we think that the fact that we’re focusing the issue of police crimes and police violence, we think that we’re going to be able to draw a lot of support from the community,” Hamann said.
There are still road closures for the immediate area surrounding the Wisconsin Center, which will begin taking place Friday and Saturday.