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PHILADELPHIA. Protesters gather outside the polling station in Philadelphia as the election campaign intensifies.
Trump supporters are demanding that the bill be stopped, while counter-protesters are calling for every vote to be counted.
Biden moves closer to Trump’s leadership in the key state that can decide the election.
Hundreds of protesters have marched to the intersection in front of the Philadelphia Exposition Center.
On one side of the street: Trump voters yelling that voting must stop immediately. They yell, “Stop the cheating – Joe got hit!” and waving Trump flags.
On the other hand: Protesters demanding that every vote be counted clearly, because the state allows votes by mail to be counted until Friday afternoon.
Photo: Pontus Höök
Trump supporters demonstrate outside the electoral college
Photo: Pontus Höök
Biden voters demonstrate in front of the voting station.
“I should stop counting”
Between the groups, the police are monitoring and putting up more riot fences. So far there is no violence in the place, but the angry exchanges are passing over the shoulders of the police.
– My opinion is that they should stop counting the votes, they should have stopped by Tuesday, Election Day, says Trump supporter Timothy Kenelly, 33, who stands with a flag on his shoulders.
He believes that people had enough time to cast their votes before Election Day and thinks it is silly that they continue to count even after. Although it is a Supreme Court decision that allows Pennsylvania to count the record number of mail-in ballots that have entered the state – 2.5 million – in three days.
– It’s very cloudy. It doesn’t matter if the court decides: the people voted on Election Day. There is no reason to count several days. If it’s an honest system, I think Trump will win, says Timothy.
Photo: Pontus Höök
Trump supporters demonstrate outside the electoral college
Requires counting to continue
Sometimes a total dance party breaks out on the spot, when protesters play the 70s song “They’re not stopping us now,” but in the lyrics they swap the last two words for “the count.” That is, “Nothing will stop the vote count.”
Ann Marie Krulick, 29, of Philadelphia, is one of those demanding that the bill continue inside the showroom until it is ready.
– It is really outrageous the threats and the oppression of the voters that is happening. It’s for Trump and his fascist regime. I don’t think people understand the seriousness of what is happening. I fight for our democracy: voters are under attack, he says.
Photo: Pontus Höök
Ann Marie Krulick, 29, proves it.
Counting was temporarily stopped for about an hour in Pennsylvania while a recent court decision was made. A federal judge has ruled that Trump campaign watchers should be allowed greater access to the showroom in downtown Philadelphia.
Trump has promised legal battles, both in Pennsylvania and in other states where there are small margins between him and Biden.
Photo: Pontus Höök
Ann Marie Krulick, 29 years old.
More and more evenly
Biden has been taking advantage of Trump’s leadership in the state of Pennsylvania for the past 24 hours. On Wednesday, Trump had an advantage of more than 600,000 votes. Now there are just over 100,000 votes among the candidates.
What remains to be counted are primarily mail-in votes from areas around the large cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, believed to benefit Democrats.
Ronaee Singletary, 23, is also by the riot fence and says she arrived on the scene as a counterweight to Trump supporters.
– They are angry because the numbers change quickly and they are not doing well. Biden is winning right now, they don’t like it. Philadelphia will vote for Joe Biden. There is nothing they can do to stop it, it is already happening, he says.
Ronaee believes there may be violence depending on how the election unfolds and whether the vote counting will proceed. But she believes the violence is coming from Trump supporters in that case.
– We are here and we are at peace, she says.
Timothy Kenelly, who wants to stop the ongoing bill in Philadelphia, also believes that there may be disturbances on city streets. But he thinks the other party will start a riot.
– Regardless of whether they continue with the scrutiny or not, and who wins, there will be many problems in the streets and protests. Not just in “Philadelphia”, but everywhere. But if people go out and destroy the cities, it will not help the elections or the whole process.
Photo: Pontus Höök
Photographer Pontus Höök and reporter Emelie Svensson in Philadelphia.
The state-by-state vote count
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