Protesters and Trump supporters clash in the streets of Cleveland

IT’S day three of the Republican Convention and tensions are heating up, as thousands of protesters clash with Donald Trump’s supporters.

An activists shouts as she is arrested by police during a protest outside the RNC.

IT’S day three of the Republican Convention and tensions are heating up in downtown Cleveland, as thousands of protesters clash with Donald Trump’s supporters in Public Square.

The four-block central plaza, an integral part of the city’s centre, has been the scene of demonstrations for days now as people from contrasting political and ideological backgrounds hold their own debate over America’s future.

Black Lives Matter, LGBT, Christian activists and pro-abortion groups are among those who have been butting heads with each other all week, vying for space (and media attention) to have their message heard.

Trump supporters undoubtedly pack the biggest punch, a sea of chanting bodies dominating the streets, decked out in their Trump merchandise and shaking anti-Clinton signs high in the air.

But the Democratic voice can also be heard in Cleveland this week. While they’re drastically outnumbered and not nearly as loud, their presence can certainly be felt.

One group of over 100 members, the Summit County Progressive Democrats, is taking the opportunity to communicate their message this week while Cleveland and the Republican Party is thrust into the international spotlight.

“It seems to me that they [the GOP] are very much - and in an odd way very well - communicating who they really are and their beliefs,” Bob Gippin, president of the SCPD told news.com.au, commenting on the Trump supporters who have spoken so far at the convention. “There is no ambiguity to the message and so to that extent, I guess in some ways I’m glad of that because they’re not trying to now fool people. In some ways I’m very pleased the Republican Convention is playing out in this way.”

This week, the SCDP has been organising interviews with activists on topics ranging from gun control and women’s rights to environmental regulations and charter schools.

“Another reason we’re here is, we want to have people like you [reporters] communicate that not everybody in America is like what you see here, so we’re not all crazy. That’s why we’re here.”

Responding to the somewhat aggressive approaches taken by keynote speakers inside the arena over the past two nights, Mr Gippin said: “The reason they’re doing that is because they don’t want to talk about their candidate [Trump]. Everything is about Hillary because they don’t even agree with their candidate.

“Chris Christie’s speech was a travesty,” he added, referring to New Jersey Gov. Christie’s address on Tuesday night where he chose to “prosecute” Hillary Clinton by asking the crowd to reply “guilty” or “not guilty”.

“Even the Republicans, some of them don’t agree with him [Trump]. Which is interesting, because the Republican agenda without Trump is terrible, with Trump it’s just a coarser version of the Republicans.”

“That’s all they’ve really got to unite themselves on, is to bash Hillary but they’re not that into Trump.”

Robert Grow, a minister who has led gun-control demonstrations during gun shows throughout Ohio, was also protesting in the square. “I am a chaplain who in a five-year span of my career … has had to minister to seven families whose children were killed with guns,” he said. “And that’s the reason I took up this cause.

“So 10 years ago I became responsible in this cause … and we’ve been leading a campaign against the gun shows, which are semi-automatic weapons, automatic weapons, high capacity ammunition magazines, exotic types of ammunition. They have racist merchandise like racist bumperstickers and Nazi flags and other Nazi things, so we’ve been trying to shut that down and I’m here to promote the cause of gun violence prevention,” he added.

Sondos Mishal, a 17-year-old immigrant from Palestine who has spent half of her life in America, was one of a few Muslim protesters who stood out among the thousands rallying.

“I just want people to understand that Muslims are just ordinary people and how Trump’s views are affecting other people,” she told media outlets this week. “He’s legitimising other people’s attitudes about Muslims and that’s affecting their daily lives. The attitude always existed but it wasn’t as strong as before because there’s a presidential candidate that’s strong in his views about this.”

She added: “It’s always in the back of my mind that someone could be coming for me.”

There have only been a handful of major protests in Cleveland since Sunday. The largest had about 500 marchers, according to police.

While the tensions did escalate today, there have been no truly violent clashes between rival protesters or with police yet, and only three people have been arrested so far. This was widely expected to be the most chaotic convention since the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.