With Tropical Storm Isaac looming, demonstrators in the downtown Tampa tent encampment known as “Romneyville” are short on emergency plans.
"We’re not sure what to do at this point," says Jared Bay, one of the protesters living in Romneyville. "It will come through and just rip a tent apart. A tent won’t make it."
They’re hoping the city will find some space where the group can ride it out.
“We’re probably going to need motel rooms or something that’s out of the storm. Maybe they can give us a gym or something somewhere. Hopefully they’ll come up with something to help us out.”
Other groups are simply having trouble getting their members to town.
"We’ve already heard that people might have problems who are coming Monday in terms of plane reservations," says Madea Benjamin, co-founder of the anti-war group CODEPINK.
The group One Miami chartered vans and planned for more than 200 demonstrators to trek from South Florida to Tampa. But Isaac has complicated things.
"We’ve had folks who have families here and have decided they want to be close to them as the storm is coming through," says Eric Brakken, director of One Miami.
One Miami is now bringing only a couple dozen demonstrators to the RNC, about a tenth of what the group had planned.
