Maritime demonstrators intent on hoisting protest signs on the south side of the Tampa Bay Times Forum during the Republican National Convention in Tampa next month will be out of luck.
The U.S. Coast Guard will be establishing seven temporary security zones in the waters surrounding the site of the RNC and the Tampa Convention Center, which will be home to the thousands of reporters filing from the convention site.
Those waters include Garrison Channel, the Hillsborough River, Seddon Channel, Sparkman Channel, the
unnamed channel north of Davis Islands, Ybor Channel, and Ybor Turning Basin (h/t to Politico).
According to the directive from the Department of Homeland Security,"The security zones are necessary to protect convention delegates, official parties, dignitaries, the public, and surrounding waterways from terrorist acts, sabotage or other subversive acts, accidents, or other causes of a similar nature."
This article appears in Jul 12-18, 2012.