RNC 2016: Day 3 - Third Eye Blind troll the convention

You may not have heard much from the band Third Eye Blind since their biggest hit song "Semi-Charmed Life" back in 1997. They're back in the news today though and trending on social media thanks to what people are calling a major "troll" of the Republican Convention.

The band accepted an invite to play at a charity event being held near the RNC on Tuesday night only to show up and refuse to play any of the memorable older material for the largely Republican audience, instead taking on the party's views on science and making statements in support of gay rights.

"Raise your hand if you believe in science," the band's frontman Stephan Jenkins said at one point, according to the New York Daily News.

Later, when someone Tweeted at the band that they had never been "more disappointed", the band replied: "good".

Jenkins explained his opposition to the modern GOP in an opinion piece in 2012, saying the party was "dedicated to exclusion" and was on the wrong side of a range of issues, including civil rights, climate change, and evolution.

Please log back tomorrow for further coverage.

Thank you for reading.

From Fairfax Media chief correspondent Paul McGeough in Cleveland.

A very strange night in Cleveland. The theme was supposed to be 'make America work again…"

But so far all we've had on the jobs front, is eight speakers who have wandered in from the previous day's schedule, when the theme was 'make America safe again.'

The dominant talking point tonight has been security and the key target has been Clinton. Regarding jobs, all we have heard is from a strange little man from New York, named Andy Wist, who employs 140 people – not exactly inspiring.

Surely the next speaker would address jobs – nope, that was Chris Cox, an executive with the National Rifle Association, whose target was Hillary Clinton and whose talking point is personal and family security – as in the right of Americans to go armed.

He says it's no big deal

Only a couple of lines being quoted so far but it could be a pattern with the Trump gang.

Overall, five people have been arrested since the Republican National Convention started, Cleveland police spokeswoman Sgt Jennifer Ciaccia has said.

That tally includes one person accused of trying to steal a state trooper's gas mask and three people who allegedly climbed flagpoles at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and hung an anti-Donald Trump banner.

Police have broken up scuffles between groups of demonstrators a few blocks from the Republican National Convention as crowds in the hundreds gathered in the afternoon.

But there were no arrests despite several tense moments when officers stepped in between protesters pushing and shouting at each other during some of the biggest, most raucous gatherings in downtown Cleveland since the four-day convention began on Monday.

Protesters march through downtown Cleveland on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland. GettyCredit: Jeff J Mitchell

One skirmish broke out when right-wing conspiracy theorist and radio show host Alex Jones started speaking in downtown's Public Square through a bullhorn. Police on bicycles pushed back a surging crowd, and Jones was whisked away.

Minutes later, more officers on bicycles formed a line to separate a conservative religious group from a communist-leaning organisation carrying a sign that read, "America Was Never Great".

The demonstrators on Tuesday - including anti-Muslim protesters, religious conservatives and marchers decrying racism and "murder by police" - appeared outnumbered by law officers and members of the media.

Demonstrators soon spilled into the streets, and some appeared to be making their way towards the convention arena before turning back. More skirmishes broke out at one intersection. But by the evening, the protests were breaking up.

from AP

A nifty 360 view of the convention floor.

...to continue the barrage against Hillary Clinton.

Clinton's camp wastes no time in responding to the brain surgeon former Republican candidate.

...Yes, he did.