GSP trooper at RNC sent to hospital after interaction with protester

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A Georgia State Trooper providing security at the Republican National Convention was sent to the hospital Thursday with a mysterious skin irritation after interacting with a protester, police said.

Investigators say the GSP trooper and one Cleveland Police Officer experienced the same symptoms after a protester put a sticker onto both of their uniforms. That sticker allegedly caused a burning sensation.

GSP confirmed the incident to

who is in Cleveland covering the convention, and said the trooper complained of a tingly feeling and numbness.

"He didn't see anything. He felt what he felt. He let us know so we tried to take care of him the best we could. It turned out to be nothing," said Col. Mark McDonagh from Georgia State Patrol. "EMS took a look at him and out of an abundance of caution they transported and checked him out and he's fine. He's already been released from the hospital and he'll be back with us as soon as he can get back here."

Protests swell outside RNC ahead of Trump's acceptance speech

Several Georgia State Troopers traveled to Cleveland earlier this week to help with security at the RNC.

They were among the police officers Thursday who formed barriers across in Cleveland's Public Square as demonstrations grew ahead of Trump's prime-time acceptance speech.

In an almost carnival-like scene, state troopers from Indiana played ping pong with people in the square. Women waving pink heart-shaped signs supporting abortion rights danced in a fountain. And demonstrators dressed as nuns on stilts, anarchists wearing bandanas over their faces and religious conservatives vied for attention.

Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams was in the middle of it, riding with a bike patrol unit in the square.

As of Thursday morning, police reported 23 protest-related arrests since Monday, well below what law enforcement officials had feared. Seventeen of the arrests came Wednesday, during a melee that erupted during a flag-burning outside an entrance to the convention arena.

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Trump said on Thursday that Cleveland police were doing "an incredible job."

Early in the afternoon, about 150 protesters carrying signs saying "Ban All Trumps Not Muslims" and chanting "Love Trumps Hate" marched across a bridge leading into downtown.

The protest by a group called Stand Together Against Trump drew little notice outside a heavy police presence. Officers on rooftops watched through binoculars, while police on bicycles pedaled along the streets with no other traffic.

The demonstrators, in sweltering heat pushing above 90 degrees, dutifully followed the city's designated route for protest marches.

"Trump is trying to use the moment to divide us. He's trying to use the moment to gain personal power," said march organizer Bryan Hambley, a Cleveland doctor.

Officers got between the marchers and a few conservative religious counter-protesters to make sure no skirmishes broke out.

(The Associated Press contributed to this article)

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