PHILADELPHIA — Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is set to keep his pledge to support presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on the floor of the DNC, but a group of thousands of his supporters gathered outside City Hall are restless for him to fight.
A bunch of Bernie Supporters just took over the #DNCinPHL official welcome party calling for a roll call vote pic.twitter.com/J9arqqVOXI
— Luke Rudkowski (@Lukewearechange) July 25, 2016
The comments supporting Clinton came in a speech to his delegates amid a chorus of boos. Then his supporters inside the convention hall began chanting “we want Bernie.”
Meanwhile, a huge contingent of thousands of Bernie Sanders supporters and other far-left activists were on hand at noon at Philadelphia’s City Hall, preparing for a march scheduled for later in the day.
Crowd outside City Hall. #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/cUoFa7kClv
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
As during yesterday’s march, there is a notably smaller police presence here in Philadelphia than there was at Cleveland’s Republican National Convention. In Cleveland, large groups of police officers, including contingents from other states, were visible multiple times on every single block. The crowd outside City Hall only contained a scattered amount of law enforcement officers, all of whom were local to Philadelphia or Pennsylvania.
.@BernieSanders supports gathering at #OccupyDNC pic.twitter.com/y7oEF83Q9u
— Griffin (@GriffinSW) July 25, 2016
There was a generally upbeat, festival mood among the gathered activists, representing a variety of causes from marijuana legalization, to environmentalism, to anti-TPP.
When asked what they want to hear from Bernie Sanders at his speech tonight during the Democratic National Convention the general consensus was they would like to hear him speak out against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, but also hear him take on presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and the DNC. One man was blunt:
What do Bernie Sanders supporters want him to say tonight? “Fuck the DNC.” #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/wPVM9AH9dm
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
What do Bernie Sanders supporters want him to say tonight? “Not ready to lose.” #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/2EVRBHPsrl
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
What do Bernie Sanders supporters want him to say tonight? “The deal with the DNC is off.” #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/zZESKG9jcx
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
What do Bernie Sanders supporters want him to say tonight? “Make sure Trump doesn’t become President.” #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/tFOl9gsIgi
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
What do Bernie Sanders supporters want him to say tonight? “Stopping Trump.” #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/31QRbpqBX9
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
What do Bernie Sanders supporters want him to say tonight? “Run as an independent.” #DNCinPHL pic.twitter.com/KOQfWc79dA
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
There was no visible support for Donald Trump among the pre-protest crowd, with most of the activists holding out hope that a floor fight at the DNC would result in a Bernie nomination, with many taking the fallback position of supporting Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
The pre-march crowd included a notable contingent of socialist, revolutionary communist, some bearing red flags representing socialist revolution.
The red flag of socialism is why everywhere outside Philadelphia City Hall. #dncinphl pic.twitter.com/Rhg9lvsLJx
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) July 25, 2016
The recent WikiLeaks dump of approximately 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee has deepened a fissure within the party, and brought new hope to Sanders supporters that the candidate would disavow his endorsement of Hillary Clinton and either make a third-party run or support Stein.
Others seemed more concerned about the looming threat of Donald Trump, who has pulled ahead of Clinton in some recent polling and who clearly stands to benefit from the chaos on the Democrat side.
.@BernieSanders supporters gather at Philadelphia City Hall to #OccupyDNC pic.twitter.com/v50NooHdyQ
— Ashley Alman (@ashleyalman) July 25, 2016
It remains to be seen how Bernie’s supporters on the street will respond to his continued support of the Clinton-Kaine campaign. Sanders said that he wanted to start a political revolution. The question now is: can you control the revolution that he started?