2012 RNC protests continue peacefully

6:09 PM, Aug 29, 2012   |    comments
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Tampa, Florida -- There were several  protests Wednesday, but none of them were what city officials had feared.

The largest was sponsored by Planned Parenthood at Julian Lane Park about a mile north of the Tampa Bay Times Forum.

It featured speeches and chants like " Ho ho, hey hey, Planned Parenthood is here to stay."

The idea was to let the Republicans who were meeting a mile to the south understand that these people feel  there is a GOP assault on women and it could hurt them this November.

Diane Block came from Sarasota and says, "I believe in Planned Parenthood and  I believe in a woman's right to her own body and the Republicans don't feel that way."

Christina Devries drove up from Port Charlotte because she says, "The dialogue has become whether you are for or against woman's rights."

While this Planned Parenthood protest was the biggest of the day, earlier at a small protest, pretend cops showed more force than the real police officers did the entire week.

When peace activists tried to sing a peace song after a panel discussion led by Lt. Governor Jennifer Carroll, private security guards strong-armed them out of the building. Basically, those who spoke out could not stay.

At midday, there was a protest at speech featuring former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Unlike Tuesday, Rice was at this event where protesters said she should be arrested as a war criminal for helping send troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.

During the speech when Rice was talking about the compassionate Bush administration, a Code Pink protester, former Army Colonel Ann Wright, stood up and said, "You can't be compassionate and kill people!"

However, no one was arrested and for the most part, everything has been extremely calm.


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