US Election: Stop the Count and Count the Vote protests nationwide

A series of ‘violent arrests’ were carried out in Manhattan on Thursday as protestors took to Greenwich Village to voice their disdain for President Donald Trump and New York City police. 

A series of videos from the protests in the Big Apple during the ‘We Choose Freedom’ rally show irate New Yorkers as Americans across the country take to the streets to demand either to count every vote or to stop counting. 

A spokesperson for the New York Police Department told DailyMail.com that 10 people were arrested during demonstrations in lower Manhattan on Thursday. Local reports indicate that the rally was a part of the weekly Stonewall March demonstrations.

The NYPD took to Twitter to claim that a protester attempted to strangle an officer with a chain near Bond Street and Broadway.

‘The suspect was apprehended & will be charged with assault, criminal possession of a weapon & attempted strangulation,’ NYPD News said on Twitter.

One clip taken at the Manhattan protests showed demonstrators marching and chanting ‘All cops are bastards.’

Other footage showed a group of officers pouncing on one demonstrator in an effort to arrest them in the street. 

In another video, a woman being detained can be heard shouting for her shoes as police escort her away from the scene.  

Demonstrators in New York also chanted ‘No homophobia! No transphobia!’ as they marched down Lafayette in the city.

In contrast, Trump supporters in Arizona convened outside of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center to demand that votes continue being counted.

The cries for continuing the count – in stark opposition with Trump’s call to stop counting on a national level – come after both Fox and AP prematurely called the state for Biden even though not all the votes had been tallied. 

One unidentified man spoke to the crowd at the facility while wearing a flag with a ‘Q’ on it. 

Demonstrators could be seen with ‘Free Our Vote’ signs and posters asserting that Joe Biden and his son Hunter were ‘corrupt.’

The state holds 11 crucial college votes but, since it was called, Trump has narrowed Biden’s comfortable lead in the state leaving the outcome now up in the air. 

As poll workers scrambled Thursday to tally ballots in the key US state of Pennsylvania, supporters of President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden held tense demos at the main vote counting center in Pennsylvania, the state’s largest city. 

Biden supporters want every vote counted, while Trump backers want votes that came in by mail after election day be ignored — and support the president’s unsubstantiated claims that the mail-in ballot system was riddled with fraud.

Philadelphia police arrested two men who were allegedly involved in a plot to attack the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Thursday night.

Police were tipped off, possibly from a concerned family member of one of the men, who had driven the 300 miles from Virginia in a Hummer.

It’s thought the plan was to possibly carry out an attack at the convention center where votes from the election are still being counted.

A crowd of activists from the organization Count Every Vote danced to music like Childish Gambino’s ‘This Is America’ and rallied in front of the city’s convention center, where police and reporters from around the world also converged.

‘Donald Trump out now!’ protesters loudly cheered into Thursday night. 

On another corner some 30 Trump supporters wielding flags and signs gathered behind police barriers and officer protection. 

While tensions remained high there were no reported clashes.

Police were on high alert, and a helicopter hovered overhead keeping a watchful eye.

A young woman flipped her middle finger at a Trump protestor, who in turn called her a ‘satanist.’

Another Trump supporter, this one sporting a cowboy hat, shook hands with police officers, thanking them for protection.

Biden leads Trump in the all-important electoral vote count that determines the election winner, and a Pennsylvania victory would put him over the magic threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to win — regardless of the outcome in remaining states yet to be called.     

Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of angry ‘count the vote’ protesters on foot, bike and in cars circled the White House as Donald Trump plots inside to stop thousands of American votes being counted. 

Several streets were forced to close as demonstrators demanding all votes be counted and democracy be followed vowed to ‘make as much noise as possible in support of our right to vote,’ organizers said. 

Meanwhile, outside the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill, Trump supporters waved MAGA signs and American flags and got down on their knees to pray for him to win. 

Demonstrations also took place across all corners of America including Arizona, Detroit, Harrisburg and Philadelphia as Democrats demand all votes be counted while Republicans try to halt ballot counting in its tracks. 

Almost 48 hours after the polls closed, the nation is still in limbo and the presidential election continues to hang in the balance with five crucial swing states of Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania left in play.  

Trump has filed multiple lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, is demanding a recount in Wisconsin, and vowed to stop ballot counting and sue any state where Joe Biden has already been declared a winner.

Demonstrators flocked to the seat of government Thursday morning calling for the democratic right of the American people to vote to be respected and for all votes cast in the 2020 election to be counted.   

The protest organized by Shutdown DC brought together various activist groups including 350 DC and DC Bike Party, with the first people arriving on the scene around 7 a.m.  

Protesters on foot gathered at Black Lives Matter Plaza to start their march there. 

Meanwhile, a caravan of cars gathered at Madison Drive NW in front of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and people on bikes started at Freedom Plaza. 

Peaceful marchers wore face masks as they circled the White House holding up signs reading: ‘Count the vote’, ‘You will not silence us’, ‘We are watching’, ‘We are the majority’ and ‘The people have spoken’. 

Others plastered ‘loser’ on fencing around the White House complex and held signs telling Trump it is ‘game over’ as his chances of claiming election victory grow increasingly slim.    

By mid-morning, police shuttered several roads in the area and – at one point – broke up the demonstration at H and 15th Streets despite there being no reports of any unrest, reported NBC Washington.

Close by at the Republican National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill,  Ed Martin, president of the conservative political organization Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, hosted a ‘Stop the steal’ protest where he claimed Trump had ‘won’ a second term. 

‘What has to happen is every Republican of every level… elected officials, Republicans have to stand up and say “We’re going to do our job and stop the steal,”‘ he told Trump fans, echoing the president’s unsubstantiated claims of the election being stolen.

Martin provided no evidence to back up his claims but insisted it was a ‘betrayal of we the people’ if GOP leaders don’t ‘stand up to the corruption’.  

A group of pro-Trump supporters wearing MAGA hats, holding MAGA signs and chanting ‘stop the steal’ gathered at the headquarters listening to his comments.

Some held up banners reading ‘Latinos for Trump. Stop the steal’ while others knelt on the ground and prayed for Trump’s victory.

Medea Benjamin, co-founder of activist group Code Pink – an international social justice movement – stood next to Martin in counterprotest. 

Metro Police told DailyMail.com there was only one counterprotester outside the RNC HQ, but that person left the scene without any incident.   

Meanwhile the Million Mask March – held by the hacker group Anonymous each year – was also taking place near the White House Thursday. 

‘It does appear the votes are being counted. That’s good. We want to encourage that,’ one protester at the multi-group Shutdown DC event told News4.

‘Every voice matters. Just do your part and don’t let anyone discourage you,’ another said. 

People unable to attend Shutdown DC’s event in person were encouraged to show their support by joining virtually over Zoom. 

Demonstrations also took place across several other cities Thursday as both Biden and Trump supporters took to the streets of the nation.   

In Michigan, which was called for Biden Wednesday, the two sides clashed outside the TCF Center in Detroit.   

A maskless Trump fan was seen squaring up to a masked Biden supporter outside the counting center where tensions boiled over yesterday when hundreds of angry poll watchers descended on the building and banged on the glass doors demanding entry after being told the room had reached capacity.  

Over in Philadelphia, demonstrators held aloft ‘count every vote’ signs near the Philadelphia Convention Center where counting continues as Pennsylvania expects to announce results in a matter of hours.   

Republican Representative Jim Jordan led a pro-Trump rally in the Pennsylvania city of Harrisburg.

Jordan stood on the steps of the State Capital speaking into a megaphone to the crowd of Trump supporters calling for the vote count to stop in Pennsylvania after Trump has made multiple unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, supporters of Trump flocked to Phoenix City Hall holding signs to ‘stop the count’ and chanting as the president is currently losing in the state and several media reports have already called it for Biden.   

Ongoing protests show the deep partisan divide rocking the nation as the counting drags on and Trump tries to throw out thousands of American votes as his chances of reelection narrow.

Trump said his campaign will sue in the battleground states Biden won and has demanded several states stop counting votes – as mail-in ballots continue to come in and Democrats are more likely to have voted via that process.    

His campaign launched a lawsuit in Nevada, adding to the legal action already launched in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, a state called for Biden, the campaign has requested a recount.

‘All of the recent Biden claimed States will be legally challenged by us for Voter Fraud and State Election Fraud. Plenty of proof – just check out the Media. WE WILL WIN! America First!,’ Trump wrote on Twitter on Thursday morning.

All eyes are now on the five battleground states where officials continue to process votes.   

Nevada carries just 6 electoral college votes but ballot counters in the Silver State – many of whom are local volunteers – have found the spotlight of the nation on them as those votes could spell victory for Biden.  

Biden currently leads with 264 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to claim the White House, meaning Nevada’s 6 would take him to a win.   

He is currently leading by around 12,000 votes – around 1 percent – in the state, where people have voted Democrat for the last 16 years.    

Nevada, Arizona and Georgia had expected to finish their counts Thursday but then changed expectations.  

Officials in Pennsylvania – which said prior to election day that all counting wouldn’t be completed until Friday once all mail-in ballots come in – has now said the state could have a result Thursday night. 

It’s unclear when North Carolina will announce, but it is expected to go to Trump as it did in 2016. 

If Biden holds Arizona, he would only need to win one of either Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina or Pennsylvania to claim victory. 

But if he loses the state, Trump goes from 214 electoral college votes to 225. Trump would then only need 42 additional electoral college votes from Georgia (16), North Carolina (15) and Pennsylvania (20) – all states in which he is leading – to claim victory, assuming he also wins Alaska’s three electoral college votes which he is all but guaranteed to.