While Republicans gather for their convention-style rally next week in Dallas, Democratic and civil rights groups will be making their own calls to action around the city.
A coalition of more than a dozen organizations will host the We the People Rally for Democracy at 6 p.m. Sept. 10 at on City Hall Plaza. coming on the second and final day when President Trump is scheduled to address the
GOP midterm
convention.
The City Hall event is one way Democrats and allied groups hope to draw national attention while navigating security restrictions and working with city and police officials.
Dominique Alexander, president of Next Generation Action Network, said the coalition chose not to rally outside the American Airlines Center because of what he called a lack of clarity from city and police officials on how close demonstrators could come to the arena.
He said the 1½-mile distance from City Hall
will not dampen the group’s message supporting civil rights and the Constitution. City Hall will better accommodate their planned turnout than streets around the security perimeter.
“We made a decision to have it at the plaza because this is the people’s building, to make sure that they see the city of Dallas and people across the state stand in solidarity,” Alexander said at a news conference Thursday at City Hall.
Banners for the upcoming Republican convention on display outside the American Airlines Center. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News)
Other groups are targeting the convention as well.
The Dallas Against Trump Coalition is planning a march Sept. 10 from Pike Park to the arena. A group spokesperson, Xavier Velasquez, said Thursday that the protest would continue despite the city halting its permit application.
Police spokesperson Allison Hudson said the department and the city’s office of special events decided it would be quicker to bypass the permit process and work with the group directly.
The group was instead asked to complete a First Amendment “activity request form,” an optional process the city says is meant to aid collaboration between police and organizers.
Velasquez said the group would not complete the form and were moving forward with planing the protest and march toward the arena. They are holding a press conference Friday to address the issue.
Christina Foley, who heads the Secret Service’s Dallas Field Office, said Thursday that authorities would not stymie demonstrations but would maintain the security perimeter around the American Airlines Center.
Christina Foley, special agent in charge of Secret Service’s Dallas field office, meeting with reporters Thursday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News)
“They’re going to be able to go where the general public can go for the most part,” Foley said of demonstrators.
A “Boycott Donald Trump” event is planned to begin at 8 a.m. on Sept. 10 at Dealey Plaza downtown. Organizers are calling for a peaceful protest with signs and urging participants to skip work, school and shopping.
Also next week, the nonprofit Institute for Primary Facts is making Dallas the first stop on a nationwide tour of its interactive exhibit highlighting sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and its push for the Trump administration to hold abusers in his network accountable.
With Trump and national Republican leaders in town, Dallas County Democratic Party Chair Kardal Coleman said the goal of the City Hall demonstration is “to reject hate” and stand in solidarity for worker protections, criminal justice reform and human rights.
“We’re at a fork in the road and Texas wants something different,” he said at a news conference announcing the event. “This is not a rally against Donald Trump. This is a rally for the people.”
He said the coalition planning the rally put out a call out to state and national Democrats to join them, though attendees have not yet been confirmed.
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This article originally published at Democratic groups plan counter rallies for GOP convention in Dallas.