Dueling demonstrations have made the area outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center into a political battleground. While election workers keep on counting a massive of e-mail ballots inside the facility, dueling rallies face off separated by police barricades.
On one side of Arch Street, activists have been blasting music and demanding that election officials count every vote. On the other side, Trump´s supporters ask to stop the votes counting.
County officials began processing mail ballots Tuesday morning and the count has taken days, as it was expected.
You can read: Petition to count all votes in Pennsylvania keeps collecting a large number of signatures
One division of the dueling demonstrations has Donald Trump calling for the count to stop. Sever They were joined by members of the Trump campaign, including Trump senior campaign advisor Corey Lewandowski and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. Trump allies were in the city to file a flurry of legal challenges against city and state voting officials.
Although there have been tense yelling moments between the dueling demonstrations, no violent behavior has been reported, NBC10 reporters said.
Tense dueling demonstrations
Across the street, outside the famed Reading Terminal Market, scores of “Count the Vote” protesters loudly sang, danced and celebrated democracy. These supporters outnumbered the other side. Organizers sent text messages to registered voters in Philadelphia inviting people to join “a joyful party.”
Among the dueling demonstrations, city and state representatives were among those gathered outside the convention center, assuring voters of the integrity of the ballot-counting process.
Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym, a Democrat, spoke to a crowd of hundreds at North 12th and Arch streets, assuring them, “Philly has got this.”
Meanwhile, State Sen.-elect Nikil Saval said the ballot-counting process was “just professional, accountable work” by “really extraordinary dedicated servants.”