Signs along Copeland. In anticipation that Vice President Vance would take the most direct route to his political event, protesters lined Copeland Avenue. It wasn’t to be. Vance’s security detail switched to Rose Street a block away and proceeded against the posted one-way signs. Both streets had been blocked off as a back-up security measure.
Democrats: News coverage got their message out
LACROSSE, Wis. — About 300 poster-waving protesters lined Copeland Avenue to catch the eye of Vice President JD Vance on his way to a political event. But the Vance motorcade, instead of following the usual direct route on Copeland Avenue from the airport, switched to another street a block away and proceeded, albeit going the wrong way on a one-way street, to avoid the demonstrators. Realizing they had been outwitted, the protesters scrambled across the grassy boulevard between Copeland and Rose Street as the motorcade continued to the scheduled event a mile away. At the event, at Mid-City Steel’s factory warehouse, Vance offered no acknowledgment of even seeing the protesters. But it didn’t matter, said William Garcia, the Democrat who organized the protest. Garcia noted that video of protesters racing across the grass after realizing the route trickery went viral. The protesters’ messages, he said, won more news coverage than Vance himself. Garcia also noted that protesters numbered 300 — twice as many as he expected and more than the 250 at Vance’s invitation-only address.
Video: Vance protest
Among gamut of grievances. These protesters waved U.S. and Ukranian flag to make their point. Most signs, however, targeted Trump on economic issues and healthcare cuts.