recent killing of Renee Good<\/a> during a confrontation with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer in Minneapolis.<\/p>\nProtesters lined the sidewalk outside the hotel throughout the day, holding signs, chanting and shouting at people arriving for the event. Some also directed their anger at Hilton for hosting the recruitment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just too much anger in the world, and it has to stop,\u201d demonstrator Debbie Havens said. \u201cAnd what they\u2019re doing with ICE is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another demonstrator, Victoria Merriam, said the hotel\u2019s decision mattered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not OK with that. I\u2019m not OK with any of this,\u201d Merriam said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re making a choice. And I\u2019m paying attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Law enforcement presence increased shortly before noon, including St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. Officers instructed protesters to move back to a public right of way, briefly sparking shouting between demonstrators and police.<\/p>\n
Gualtieri said authorities were working with the hotel to balance free speech with public safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want people to be able to come here and attend the event,\u201d Gualtieri said. \u201cThey want their guests who are staying at the hotel to be able to enjoy their time here, and they\u2019re trying the best they can to balance that and allow these people to do what they want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gualtieri emphasized the event was hosted by Customs and Border Protection \u2014 not ICE \u2014 though that distinction did little to calm tensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Customs and Border Protection. It\u2019s not ICE. It\u2019s a totally different agency,\u201d Gualtieri said, explaining CBP\u2019s work includes ports, airports and border inspections.<\/p>\n
Holloway said police were present solely to maintain order.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you stay within the bounds that we\u2019ve given you, that\u2019s fine,\u201d Holloway said. \u201cIf you go outside those bounds, we\u2019re going to correct that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chief said there were no arrests and no injuries, adding that the only issue arose when protesters briefly blocked access points to the hotel.<\/p>\n
A small group of counter-protesters also appeared, voicing support for immigration enforcement and clashing verbally with demonstrators.<\/p>\n
\u201cICE is actually here for a reason,\u201d one counter-protester said. \u201cWe have to deport people who are coming into our country and committing crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police separated the two sides using cones and barriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just spar over their opposing viewpoints,\u201d Gualtieri said. \u201cBut that\u2019s OK. It\u2019s America. It\u2019s what you get to do. Just don\u2019t touch each other and be peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The protests follow recent demonstrations outside Tampa City Hall and St. Petersburg police headquarters opposing local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to a request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Organizers say they plan to return Wednesday for the second day of the event. Police say they are prepared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway and Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri responded to the protests outside a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-116873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-st-pete","9":"tag-st-pete-headlines","10":"tag-st-pete-news","11":"tag-st-petersburg","12":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","13":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}