PHILADELPHIA — Dueling protests were staged outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center Friday as election workers inside counted ballots for the crucial swing state in the 2020 presidential race.

The “Count every vote” and “Stop the steal” demonstrations first unfolded in the morning as Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden took a lead of more than 8,000 votes over President Trump.

Out of hundreds of protesters during that time there were only about two dozen supporting Trump and repeating his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

“Stop the cheat! Joe got beat!” the MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporters chanted outside the convention center in Philadelphia that was surrounded by a heavy police presence.

Cops with bicycles formed a human barrier to separate the pro-Trump and pro-Biden supporters throughout the day.

“It’s time for this administration to surrender for democracy,” one speaker for the “Count every vote” protest declared. “If you come for Philadelphia, we’ll come for you!”

Another Biden-supporting speaker added, “If Donald Trump needs help moving out of the White House, we know a good moving company.”

Chants of “Count every vote!” and “Trump-Pence gotta go!” were heard during the demonstrations.

As the day went on, even more Biden supporters converged outside of the convention center, with some dancing gleefully and jubilantly in the streets to music blaring through loudspeakers.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, a Democrat, made an appearance and ripped President Trump.

“While some, including the president, continue to spew baseless claims of fraud – claims for which his team has not produced one iota of evidence – what we have seen here in Philadelphia is democracy, pure and simple,” Kenney said.

The mayor added, “I think what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on. He needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost. And he needs to congratulate the winner, just as Jimmy Carter did, just as George H.W. Bush did, and, frankly, just as Al Gore did.”

As the amount of Biden backers outside the convention center grew, so did backers of Trump. At one point there were roughly 100 people showing their support of the commander-in-chief.

“Twelve more years! Twelve more years! Twelve more years!” one Trump backer yelled as she raised a Trump-Pence sign.

“No more bigots! No more bigots,” Biden supporters chanted at the Trump supporters.
Should Biden keep his lead in the Keystone State, he’ll secure the presidency with a total electoral vote count of at least 284 — 14 more votes than the needed 270.

Additional reporting by Natalie Musumeci