HILADELPHIA - This was the scene downtown yesterday: Helicopters hovered in the sky while hundreds of protesters such as Donald Shelter of Roxbury and David Graeber, a Yale professor, chanted in front of the city jail.
Philadelphians trying to get home after a long day of work again faced a band of demonstrators surrounded by hundreds of police officers - a dramatic scene that has repeated itself each day this week during the Republican National Convention.
''I just wish the Republicans would just go home,'' said Epifany Clark, a taxi driver. ''They are just causing all kinds of confusion. They are making everyone so angry.''
This week, protesters - teachers, activists, the homeless and students - from across the country have converged on ''the city of brotherly love'' to bring attention to a host of social issues they say are being ignored by the GOP.
But as the protest grew from a festival on the first day of the convention to a number of large brawls in which 400 demonstrators were arrested in the past two days, some question who these people are and whether their actions will have any impact long after the Republicans have gone home
''It's all a show,'' the Rev. Eugene Rivers of Boston said yesterday while attending the Shadow Convention, an alternative to the GOP event. ''It's nice. It's symbolic. Young people get a chance to vent some energy, but at the end of the day it will have no impact on policies and programs.''
But protesters say they are part of a larger network of people who want to change the way the country is governed.
''We are trying to raise awareness that the Republicans and the Democrats are lobbying for corporate interest,'' said Shelter, 40. ''They are not working for us and shouldn't be the ones to govern us.''
Emily Nepon, a volunteer for R2K Network, the organizing committee for the various protest groups, said the demonstrators are standing in for people who are not being represented by politicians like Governor George W. Bush of Texas.
''It's everybody. It's a coalition that is diverse in age, class, gender, and sexuality. The only people who are not involved are the rich people who have nothing to complain about,'' Nepon said.
Graeber, 39, an assistant anthropology professor at Yale University, said the demonstrators' main objective at the convention has been to shed light on issues such as the death penality, corporate globalization, and health care.
''What you are seeing is an emergence of two movements. One movement was in Seattle where protesters were against corporate globalization. Then, there is a movement of people against police brutality and the death penalty. Here you are seeing a convergence of the two movements.''
Graeber said the groups have been preparing for a year to disrupt the convention, and plan to demonstrate during the Democratic convention in Los Angeles that starts Aug. 14.
''Some people have come in small groups while others have come on their own and formed groups once they got here. Perfect strangers would come, meet and form their own groups,'' said Emily Miller, a student from Indiana.
''Yes, it's fun. We believe politics should be fun, but this is also serious. We are facing police records and getting our faces smashed in,'' said Graeber.
While yesterday's protest, with 50 arrests was fairly calm, it was a sharp contrast to violent clashes on Tuesday that resulted in about 350 people being arrested, said David Yarnell, spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department.
Authorities said protesters on Tuesday slashed tires on police cars and sprayed graffiti on City Hall denouncing the death penalty.
While the rush-hour clashes were far from the First Union Center where the convention is being held, Graeber said the protesters were focusing on delegates staying at the downtown hotels, as well as city offices.
''They know we are here,'' he said of the Republican Party delegates.
Yarnell said the protests were much tamer than those last year in Seattle where police were overwhelmed by 50,000 demonstrators opposing the World Trade Organization.
''This has been a positive performance,'' he said. ''The police practiced restraint.''
An additional demonstration occurred before noon yesterday across from the Philadelphia Museum of Art as Bush was addressing Hispanic supporters.
The demonstrators waved signs that said ''Latinos for Gore'' and criticized Bush for using Hispanics and minorities to promote the party's compassionate conservative campaign.
''If you look across the street,'' said Carlos Matos, pointing to the museum. ''You will see a whole bunch of white people holding Hispanic flags. It's all so phony. That is the same kind of hyprocrisy that has been inside the convention.''
