All eyes are on Chicago as the city prepares to host the Democratic National Convention, which begins next Monday and ends Thursday. Unlike when neighboring Milwaukee hosted the Republican National Convention last month, there are far more concerns that expected protests outside the Democratic event will turn violent.
That’s because far-left groups, which have been organizing for months, are far more angry at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who have been steering the Israeli-Hamas war. After Hamas terrorists attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people, anti-Israel protests spread across the United States, demanding that the United States force a ceasefire, impose an arms embargo on Israel, and, at the very least, give the Palestinians a real state.
With those demands not met, protesters plan to vent their months of anger during the Democratic National Convention at the United Center and McCormick Place.
of Marching to the DNC It is the main umbrella group that hundreds of far-left organizations plan to join or support next week. The coalition plans to protest at Union Park at 12 p.m. on Monday, when the Democratic National Convention begins, and at 5 p.m. on Thursday, when Harris is expected to accept the nomination. Other groups include: advertisement Their action was, “Let’s make this year as great as ’68!”
“The National Democratic March Coalition stands in unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian resistance movement and demands an end to American tax dollars being used to fund Israel’s apartheid occupation and genocide in Palestine,” the group said on its website.
More than 20,000 people are expected to take part in protests during the march to the DNC.
While the main focus is on Israel and Gaza, the coalition says people are marching in support of:
- Funding for jobs, schools, health care, housing, the environment, not for war.
- Rights and legalization for all immigrants
- LGBTQIA+ and reproductive rights;
- The right to form trade unions and to strike.
- De-police crime and achieve community control of the police.
- Justice, peace, equality.
The march to the DNC has been mired in a lengthy legal battle with the city of Chicago to allow protests to take place “within sight and sound” of the DNC. Initially, the city granted a permit for the march along a route several miles from the United Center. Now, the city is granting a permit for the march around the venue, though the exact route is in dispute.
Organizers said the city’s proposed side streets and sharp turns would cause congestion, while the Secret Service and Chicago Police said a long route to direct marchers along the security perimeter would create a “crash zone” because the fencing is inflexible. W.T.W.U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood ruled Tuesday that the city’s proposed route was appropriate.
It’s unclear how many people will turn out for this week’s protests, but they are expected to be far more than the several thousand who gathered for one day of the Republican National Convention. WGN9 Reported Leaders of four Muslim groups expect up to 100,000 protesters to turn out in Chicago, and more than 20,000 to protest at the Democratic National Convention.
Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling Repeated He said this week that his department will not tolerate violence of any kind and will crack down swiftly on any illegal activity: “We will not allow people to come here and destroy this city.”
While Chicago police have been training in crowd control for months, the event remains overshadowed by the riots that occurred outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in the Windy City.
“We will not tolerate rioting. There is a difference between a protest and a riot,” Snelling explained. “I will intervene the moment a riot starts. I am not going to wait until the rioting is over. [it’s] It gets out of control and then you try to bring it back.”
While Snelling has made his position clear, Democrats are privately worried about how Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has been sympathetic to the protesters and far from an ally of police, will react if things get out of control.
“There’s already a running joke among Democratic strategists that the main difference between 2024 and 1968 is that this year’s Chicago mayor will side with the protesters instead of the cops,” Politico reports. Reported In the same article in May, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (Democrat) predicted the National Guard would not be needed, but said, “We are prepared to send in the military if the city requests it. But it would be totally inappropriate for us to march into the city.”
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