Chicago DNC Met With Thousands of Pro-Palestine Protesters
Chicago, IL — The 2024 Democratic National Convention begins Monday morning in the United States, and tens of thousands of protesters — as part of the “March on the DNC 2024” coalition — are rallying and marching through the city to demand the U.S. ends aid to Israel.
The more than 200 groups making up the coalition say they’re also fighting “for the rights and liberation of oppressed people and against the exploitation of workers.”
“We recognize the Democratic Party as a tool of billionaires and corporations. Their actions, such as financing genocide in Palestine and war in multiple countries; continuing the mass incarceration of Black and brown people; deporting millions of immigrants; and neglecting campaign promises made to the oppressed communities who represent their voting base, show that the Democratic Party only serves the agenda of the rich and powerful.”
March on the DNC coalition
Monday’s demonstrations began with a rally at Chicago’s Union Park, where thousands heard from speakers denouncing Israel’s mass killings in Gaza before taking the streets to march towards the DNC venue.
After staging the crowd and taking the street, the crowd of thousands of protesters approached the security perimeter of the United Center, where the first day of the Democratic Convention was getting underway. Some marshals affiliated with the March on the DNC 2024 Coalition attempted to prevent groups of fired-up protesters from directly approaching the DNC security gates; one more militant protester upset at being policed by protest marshals was seen spraying black spray paint onto the marshal’s vests.
A breakoff portion of the crowd eventually breached the outer security fence by the United Center and some demonstrators and press entered the area between the two outermost layers of DNC venue barricades, a defiant moment that seemed to carry the spirit of the Palestinian solidarity movement’s calls to “Escalate For Gaza.”
After breaching parts of the fence and gaining access to the barricaded street, a stand-off with police ensued ensue for about an hour.
Protesters and press were then pushed out of the perimeter and a nearby park by police at around 6 p.m.
After being dispersed from the immediate area of the Convention, some protesters set up a Palestine solidarity “Free Zone” encampment in Union Park.
Police soon arrived and issued several dispersal orders before engaging in “negotiated management” tactics with organizers and agreeing to refrain from using force or making arrests so long as tents, sound systems and spray paint were not present in the park.
Protesters then set up another camp at Humboldt Park.
Chicago Police say a total of 13 people were arrested in relation to protests on Monday.
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