Photo Essay A Lens on the GOP Convention: Dispatches From Day 1 Photo Essay A Lens on the GOP Convention: Dispatches From Day 1

CLEVELAND—What happens outside Quicken Loans Arena during the 2016 Republican National Convention may be more interesting than what happens inside the star-spangled halls.

Photojournalist Michael Nigro is in Cleveland to provide Truthdig with a view of noteworthy moments from around the convention centers, where protesters and activists have gathered to express their views.

Nigro has more than 20 years of experience as an award-winning filmmaker and is an Emmy-nominated writer-director, a social activist and a proponent of citizen journalism. See examples of his work here and here.

His style is to shoot from within the hive, rather than observing from a distance, and Nigro will provide Truthdig viewers and readers with an on-the-ground perspective from Cleveland. He also is in contact with groups planning actions at the GOP convention and will have the advantage of embedding himself with a number of them.

Tune in to Truthdig daily this week to see Nigro’s dispatches.

This is Day 1: Here’s the .

***
erupted on the floor

Despite a last-ditch effort by the #NeverTrump contingent to prevent a Donald Trump nomination, pro-Trump supporters assured his presidential bid by denying a roll-call vote, which would have unbound GOP delegates.

Outside? Few activists or protesters knew any such drama was unfolding. Many were simply protesting peacefully and trying to figure out how to weave through the roughly $50 million worth of security apparatus around them.

Over 3 miles of 8-foot steel fencing and concrete barricades have turned the 1.7-mile convention footprint into a labyrinthine landscape, making it difficult to negotiate one’s way to certain areas. The streets themselves are clotted with law enforcement of all stripes, from local police, officers from other states, sheriffs, Homeland Security, the Secret Service and the U.S. military.

Watch Michael Nigro’s  from Day 1 of the Republican National Convention.

Truthdig is live blogging about the convention all week. Tune in for news, analysis and commentary.

Your support is crucial...

As we navigate an uncertain 2025, with a new administration questioning press freedoms, the risks are clear: our ability to report freely is under threat.

Your tax-deductible donation enables us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes the reality beneath the headlines — without compromise.

Now is the time to take action. Stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and uncover the stories that need to be told.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG