Almost 30,000 people have now committed to an “Occupy DNC” protest against what they consider “a fraudulent Hillary nomination” during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia next month.
Approximately 10,000 of those protesters have joined within the last month, as it’s become increasingly clear that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. By the end of May the group had 20,000 protesters committed to their efforts.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 28,683 people have committed to taking part in the protests.
The goup’s leaders have set up a Facebook group, titled Occupy DNC Convention, to organize the more mundane aspects of protesting like housing and transportation.
The protesters are encouraged to read documents shared within the group. One document is titled “Civil Disobedience Training.” Another is titled “Health and Safety at Militant Actions” and includes tips on rendering first-aid and withstanding teargas.
The protesters are also using the Facebook group to fundraise money to assist Bernie Sanders’ delegates with their transportation and housing costs.
As previously reported by The Daily Caller, the protesters have locked down multiple campground sites where they will set up tent cities to use as home-base for their anti-Hillary protests. The protesters have already come up with a name for their collection of tent cities: “Camp Bernie.”
Occupy DNC is one of several groups planning to protest at the DNC.
One group has practiced getting arrested, as originally reported by BuzzFeed News. “They’re going to arrest people, period, end of story. So we just want to prepare ourselves,” one of the protesters explained to BuzzFeed. “We’re not going to be violent, we don’t really have a reason to get arrested but it’s going to happen. So we want to prepare ourselves.”
Philadelphia police have already said they’re hoping to avoid mass arrests of protesters during the DNC convention.
Another group of protesters have organized marches in all 50 states in support of Sanders. The marches will take place during the DNC convention.
Similarly, another group of activists calling themselves the Philly Coalition for Real Justice are planning a “resistance march” against the Democratic party for allegedly breaking its promises to black voters.
The Philly Coalition’s Facebook page states that “The Democratic Party has consistently betrayed their promises to the Black community and the 2016 presidential election is not going to be any different.”
“We must capitalize off of this moment with one goal in mind; and that is to resist the capitalist and racist power structures that allow white supremacy and capitalist oppression to flourish,” the activists state.
At the DNC, they plan to introduce their “own Declaration of Independence and the People’s Constitution, one that liberates us from the corruption of American politics.”
