The organizers predicted tens of thousands of activists will take part in demonstrations ranging from marches to street theater. Outside the Convention Center in Los Angeles, thousands of people will bang on drums, paint buckets, pots and pans during Vice President Al Gore's acceptance speech for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, law enforcement agencies have formed their own coalition to preserve order in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The Secret Service and FBI have helped local and state police in planning security. In both cities, there will be buffer zones around the convention sites where demonstrations are banned.
Police hope to confine protests to a designated and guarded area.
Similar restrictions were imposed around previous political conventions. But protest leaders said they won't be penned in. Collins said about 3,000 people will take part in the shadow conventions. R2D2K Coalition leaders predicted at least 10 times that many protesters will be on the streets of Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Since hotels are already booked by Republicans and Democratic conventioneers and by the news media, organizers said the demonstrators will be staying in churches, private homes, parks and campgrounds.