January 26, 2017
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Protesters gather at 13th and Market streets around noon on Thursday, Jan. 26, not long before President Donald Trump was expected to arrive at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 Market St., for the Republican House Senate Leadership Conference.
Two individuals possessing firecrackers, lighter fluid and a crowbar were stopped by police near the Philadelphia hotel where President Donald Trump addressed congressional Republicans on Thursday, police said.
The individuals were stopped at 13th and Market streets and released after a "pedestrian investigation," a police spokesman said late Thursday afternoon. They were not arrested.
The spokesman said he only had preliminary information on the stop. It is unclear when the individuals were stopped or whether the items were confiscated.
Thousands of protesters marched through Center City on Thursday and rallied at 13th and Market streets. That marked the closest point they could get to the Loews Hotel on Market at 12th, where President Donald Trump was addressing congressional Republicans on a three-day policy retreat.
The protests, which decried GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, remained peaceful throughout.
