Colorful crowds but no major conflicts beyond Trump Arraignment
In the days leading up to his Miami arraignment, former President Donald J. Trump and several of his allies called on his supporters to rally to his side.
Roger J. Stone Jr., Mr. Trump’s longtime political adviser, called for protests and insisted they be peaceful. A Miami chapter of the Proud Boys – long associated with Mr. Stone — echoed the invitation, posting a flyer on the Telegram page last week advertising an event at the federal courthouse on Tuesday morning.
All this aroused the concern of civic leaders in the city, who called on the demonstrators to remain peaceful. In the end, their fears did not come true. It seemed that no Proud Boys showed up and about 500 people, including one with a pig’s head on a spear, answered Mr Trump’s call to action.
The atmosphere outside the building was circus-like. There was the Uncle Sam who zipped around the courthouse grounds on a two-wheeled hoverboard singing pro-Trump songs, the woman with a unicorn horn on her forehead who wore an “Aunt-ifa” shirt and sang mockingly about the former president , and the man in a black and white prison jumpsuit with a sign that says “lock him up.”
That man in the jumpsuit later sparked the most frenetic moment of the day when he ran in front of Mr. Trump’s SUV as he exited the courthouse. The man, who could not be immediately identified, was pushed aside by police and later arrested. As officers took him away, a mob of Trump supporters used the message on his sign to taunt him: “Lock him up!”
As he left, Mr. Trump, sitting in the back seat of the SUV, gave a thumbs up to supporters, some of whom sprinted behind the vehicle in cheers. He went to the famous Cuban restaurant Versailles, where a smaller crowd of supporters awaited him, a rabbi and pastor prayed for him, and he briefly shook hands and posed for photos.
It was the second time this year that Mr Trump has called for protests at a court hearing, but his call has met with a sort of hissing response. When he was charged in a separate case in Manhattan in April, New York City police mobilized with all their might over concerns of unrest, but the chaos never materialized.
In Miami, too, on a sweltering, humid day, the crowd was calmer than some had feared. Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales faced tough questions from reporters a day earlier about whether he was doing enough to keep the area safe during the trial and why he didn’t plan to mobilize anti-Trump and pro-Trump protesters. to divorce.
“We know there’s a possibility of things getting worse, but that’s not the way Miami is doing it,” he said in response.
As the temperature reached nearly 90 degrees by lunchtime, trucks circled the courthouse with flags and loudspeakers, and several people on foot with selfie sticks broadcast live video streams to thousands of viewers as they squeezed in and out of the crowd.
“This is crazy,” cried a pro-Trump streamer, Rafael Gomez, as he walked among the palm trees in front of the tall, glittering courthouse. “Welcome to the banana republic of Miami!”
More established conservative figures also tried to draw audiences, such as Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who held a press conference outside the courthouse to defend Mr Trump and said he would pardon his campaign rival if elected.
In an interview after his press conference, Mr. Ramaswamy said that despite his defence, he would not have done what Mr. Trump is accused of doing. “I wouldn’t have brought the boxes,” he said. ‘I’m not a souvenir man. Not my style.”
Police largely stayed clear of the demonstrators, observing closely as a helicopter circled overhead and jumping into the crowd only a few times as more hostile arguments ensued.
At one point, however, Homeland Security and Miami Police Department agents rushed closer and began clearing much of the courthouse grounds. They examined a large TV mounted on a pole on the sidewalk that carried a message criticizing what it called “the communist-controlled news media”. About an hour later, police removed the television and reopened the area.
Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez, a Republican considering his own presidential bid, arrived in a Miami Police Department polo shirt in the early afternoon. He hugged several Trump supporters before shaking hands with a line of police officers. “I think so far it’s been a peaceful demonstration for people exercising their constitutional rights to express themselves, which is what we love about this country,” he said.
Nearby, Carlos Brito, 66, sold American flags for $5. Mr Brito, who emigrated from Cuba in 1980, said he supported Mr Trump and criticized President Biden for sending money to support Ukraine while the Americans were struggling financially. “Look how much a cup of coffee costs here,” he said. “We need help here at home.”
Scott Linnen, 61, a Trump critic from Miami, said he came to the courthouse because he had become distraught about the country’s direction. As a gay man, he said he had seen an increase in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, hate speech and extremist behavior on the right.
“This man was trying to overthrow the 247-year-old American experiment,” he said of Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. “I don’t understand why more people’s hair isn’t on fire.”
Luke Broadwater And Nick Madigan reporting contributed.