Cleveland crammed with police, protesters and press as the Republican circus comes to town

Many Clevelanders seemed baffled that the GOP would hold their convention in a city where Barack Obama won a bigger share of the vote than any presidential candidate since 1964

The convention is being held in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, home to the Cavaliers, who recently won the NBA championship (Getty)

The circus has come to town. As the 2016 Republican National Convention got underway in Cleveland on Monday, the streets of the Ohio city brimmed with delegates and law enforcement personnel. A crowd of anti-Trump protesters marched through downtown in the muggy Midwestern heat, pursued by a second crowd of reporters and camera crews.

A bar close to the convention venue advertised GOP-themed cocktails, including “The Trump”: peppered vodka with a “bold and spicy” mixer and a pickle garnish. A man selling merchandise on a nearby street corner said his bestselling badges were those disparaging Democrat Hillary Clinton, with slogans such as “Life’s a bitch, don’t vote for one.”

Despite wearing one of Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” baseball caps, the vendor insisted he did not support the presumptive Republican nominee. “This is just business,” said the man, who declined to give his name. “I never liked The Apprentice. The guy just fires everybody! You ain’t got money, you’re nothing – that’s Trump’s way.”

Clevelanders are by turns proud, irritated and bemused that the Republican party chose to hold its quadrennial convention here. Some complain about the traffic disruption, others rejoice that the bars are open until 4am all week. Many seem baffled that the GOP would pick Cleveland, where in 2012 Barack Obama won a bigger share of the vote than any presidential candidate since 1964.

The state’s most prominent Republican is nowhere to be seen. Ohio Governor John Kasich, no fan of Mr Trump, has indicated he will stay away from this year’s convention. Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, Mr Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort said Mr Kasich was “making a big mistake,” adding: “He is embarrassing his state, frankly.”

Cleveland’s hotels are so crammed that the California delegation was said to be billeted at a resort a full hour’s drive from the convention venue. The Quicken Loans Arena is home to the Cleveland Cavaliers, who recently won the NBA championship. Inside, stores usually stocked with Lebron James souvenirs are now flogging Trump-themed t-shirts and hats.

Businessman Nelson Spear, easily identifiable as a Texas delegate by his Lone Star silk shirt and Stetson hat, was confident that the party would put on a united front, despite several high-profile absentees such as Mr Kasich, Mitt Romney and the two Presidents Bush. “It’s going to be wonderful,” Mr Spear said.

“I was a little apprehensive about the security, but they’ve beefed that up. And I was a little apprehensive that people would still be upset about the way the primaries went, but I’ve got a good feeling that all of that is behind us. We’re really united and we’re going to be solidly behind Donald Trump going into November.”

Badges on sale outside the Republican convention in Cleveland (Tim Walker) ((Tim Walker))

Past Republican conventions have featured Hollywood stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood, who spoke at the 2004 and 2012 events respectively. This year, the biggest actor on the bill is Scott Baio, best known for playing Chachi in Happy Days, who was due to speak on Monday after receiving a last-minute invitation from Mr Trump last week.

The property mogul had promised to attract a host of high-profile celebrity speakers for this year’s convention, but in place of Clint and Arnie, attendees can expect to hear from the likes of Mr Baio, Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty and Kimberlin Brown, star of the soaps The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s demand that Don King be invited to speak to delegates was reportedly vetoed by party bosses, who balked at the colourful boxing promoter’s criminal past. Mr King, a Cleveland native and close friend of Mr Trump, once spent four years in prison for manslaughter after beating another man to death.

Any bizarre goings-on inside the arena this week will likely be matched by events outside, with activist groups as diverse and disagreeable as the Westboro Baptist Church and the New Black Panthers descending on Cleveland to protest. On Sunday, an Ohio man appeared in a city square carrying a semi-automatic rifle to assert his right to bear firearms openly in the state.

Photographer Spencer Tunick persuaded a crowd of 100 women to pose naked in downtown on Sunday as a peaceful protest. “The Republican Party has moved so far extreme right I cannot stand by idly without doing my part to educate and stand up to their racist, misogynistic, patriarchal, xenophobic ways,” one of Mr Tunick’s models explained in a statement.