As the Republican National Convention kicks off today, local supporters and opponents of the GOP are headed to New York City.

Several local Republicans are delegates to the convention, including former Miss America Erika Harold and Fred Walsh, president of Active Senior Republicans, said Chuck Prochaska, president of Students for Bush and sophomore in LAS.

However, with classes starting, Garrett Leek, president of the College Republicans and sophomore in LAS, said he didn’t know of any Republican students that plan to attend the convention.

“The timing was wrong for students to take off a week of class,” Leek said.

The College Republicans are planning to hold a convention party at Kam’s, 618 E. Daniel, Champaign, on Thursday night at 7 p.m. to watch President Bush’s speech, Leek said.

The party is open to the public, he said.

Leek said he planned to watch the convention every night, noting that the GOP has “really got a good list of speakers” planned for the event.

While Republicans meet inside Madison Square Garden, several local students and residents plan to march in the massive street protests outside.

Urbana resident Zach Miller and six others went to New York armed with cameras and video recorders to document the protests – particularly the United for Peace and Justice March held last Sunday. Tens of thousands participated in the march, which wound around downtown Manhattan, according to the Associated Press.

Miller said he viewed the 2004 Republican Convention as very similar to the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, when hundreds of thousands of people protested the Vietnam War.

For this week’s convention, Miller said, “It’s come to the point that the only thing that people feel they can do to oppose the evil policies of this administration is to take direct action.”

Sarah Lazare, junior in LAS, is joining Miller in his trip to New York. Just before leaving on Saturday afternoon, she and Miller joined about 20 other anti-Republican protesters in a march through campus to protest President Bush’s policies.

Lazare said the anti-Republican demonstrations were “really important symbolistic protests.

“It will show that there are a lot of people who are really upset about our current political system,” she said.

Lazare said while “it sucks that we have to do these (protests),” she was glad to be able to participate.

“Resistance is beautiful, even if the thing you’re protesting isn’t beautiful,” she said.