Chicago officials expect swarms of demonstrators to march for and against various issues beginning Monday when the Democratic National Convention kicks off in the Windy City.
Protest organizers, whose groups number over 260, say their demonstrators could swell as high as 30,000. They will focus on U.S. policy related to Israel, abortion access, poverty, lack of housing, racism, climate change and LGBTQ rights.
A coalition called March on the DNC 2024 will be packed in a 1.5-mile protest route close to the United Center, where the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and NHL’s Blackhawks play on the west side of the city.
Monday’s rally will be followed by marches near the convention’s venue. The DNC ends Thursday.
A federal judge previously denied a motion by protest organizers to use a longer parade route that would take them closer to the United Center.
“We have an expectation that there will be tens of thousands of people in Chicago next week protesting the DNC, and so their route is only a mile long. Our proposed route was more like 2.4, 2.5 miles,” Hatem Abudayyeh, chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said in an interview Friday with the Electronic Intifada.
“So, yes, you might have upheld the First Amendment rights of the people who get to walk in front of the building and are able to make the message known, ’Stop USA to Israel, Stop the genocide, free Palestine.’ But what about the thousands who never leave the park?” he asked.
U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood ruled that the route “falls well short of a First Amendment violation. … As such, the alternative parade route represents an adequate alternative channel of communication.”
Protesters are facing another challenge related to staging. They’re waiting on the city to agree to give them a park permit that they say they applied for in November.
Democrats know that many are drawing parallels to their Chicago convention in 1968 when anti-war protesters faced a bloody battle with police. Just months before, President Lyndon Johnson pulled out of the race, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the nomination.
This time, President Biden is out of the running after quitting the race, and Vice President Kamala Harris is the nominee. Convention organizers don’t want to see a further reenactment of 56 years ago as protesters gear up for action in Chicago.
Chicago’s top cop isn’t having any of it.
“We’re not going to allow you to riot,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told business leaders and elected officials at a downtown event last Monday. “Protesting and rioting are two different things. You have the right to protest, but there will be no rioting tolerated.”
According to Mr. Snelling, officers received more training for the DNC than for the 2012 NATO summit to fend off protesters.
“All of the things that worked there, we utilized that, we worked it up, we sharpened the saw to make that better,” he said. “But we also looked at things that we know that we could’ve done better, and we’ve taken corrective action with that.”
More recently, Chicago police faced off against rioters in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Mr. Snelling said that unlike then, when people were killed, businesses were looted and vehicles were set ablaze, “I’m not going to wait until it gets out of control and then try to bring it back in. The moment it starts, you put an end to it quickly. … So we will not allow people to come here and destroy this city.”
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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