CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The weekend before the start of Monday's Republican National Convention in Charlotte opened Friday night on an unsettling note, as demonstrators skirmished with police and officers reportedly made multiple arrests.
The turnout in uptown Friday night was small compared to the outpouring of marchers who flooded into uptown following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in May. But confrontations did occur.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said on the department's Twitter feed at 11:15 p.m. that an unspecified number of officers had been "assaulted" at Trade and North Tryon streets and "multiple arrests had been made."
Police also said they used pepper spray "to keep the crowd from interfering with arrests that were taking place."
There were no reports of property damage.
According to WBTV, an Observer news partner, a skirmish also broke out on South Tryon Street when bicycle cops attempted to keep marchers from interrupting traffic, then used pepper spray when some of the demonstrators grabbed at the bikes. At least one person was arrested when several demonstrators surrounded a vehicle, the station reported.
A livestream from the alternative newspaper Queen City Nerve showed a small group of walkers appearing to leave uptown at around 11:30 p.m. and head in the direction of the Jail Support encampment on Fourth Street.
Meanwhile, Republican delegates and party officials have already begun gathering in Charlotte for a convention radically streamlined by the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, they are scheduled to nominate President Donald Trump as their party's candidate.
Demonstrations are expected to continue _ and likely build _ through the weekend and into Monday.
