CHICAGO– As for the legendary Chicago protests, the numbers outside the Democratic National Convention weren’t remarkable. But organizers say they did something leaders inside didn’t: the war in Gaza part of the agenda.
The stakes were high for Chicago. Although it hosts more political conventions than any other American city, comparisons have been drawn with the infamous convention of 1968when police clashed with protesters on live television, were hard to shake. And a small unauthorized protest That led to dozens of arrests and tense confrontations with the police, but it didn’t really help.
But organizers who won the right to protest near the United Center, and the police, who spent more than a year preparesay they were successful in broadcasting several stories about the country’s third largest city.
“This is a very large contingent of people who are not willing to stand by and watch people commit genocide in our city,” said student organizer Liz Rathburn. “We showed the world that.”
Expectations for mass protests in Chicago — which took place a month after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — were high. The biggest protest In Milwaukee, approximately 1,000 people attended the convention.
Chicago is known for its mass mobilizations, including in 2006 when nearly half a million People took to the streets to call for immigrant rights.
Organizers had predicted that as many as 20,000 people would turn out for a march and rally on the opening day of the convention. While they admitted that the numbers were not that high, they disagreed with the city’s much lower estimate of around 3,500 participants.
Hatem Abudayyeh, a lead organizer and co-founder of the American Palestinian Community Network, said he was pleased with the turnout and message of the largely family-friendly demonstrations that appealed to the large Palestinian population in the Chicago area.
As activists supporting various progressive causes came to Chicago, they united behind a pro-Palestinian, anti-war message.
“We were the show,” Abudayyeh said. “The excitement was out here on the streets.”
Most of the major protests were relatively peaceful, but dozens of arrests were made after a group stormed part of the security fence around the United Center and after an unauthorized demonstration in front of the Israeli consulate.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, who was highly visible at all the major protests, said law enforcement leadership and communication with protest organizers helped keep the convention calm. Although Chicago police stations outside the city Chicago police assisted with security at the convention and were solely responsible for the protests.
During the largest marches in Chicago, hundreds of police on bicycles lined the streets, escorting demonstrators through residential streets around the United Center.
“What we’ve learned here is that preparation is everything,” Snelling said Thursday. “Two things you need for success: opportunity and preparation. We had the opportunity to respond to the Democratic National Convention, and we were prepared.”
However, the police were also criticized for their tactics and what some called the excessive presence of officers. In Milwaukee, police were noticeably absent from the largest convention protests.
At a demonstration outside the Israeli consulate in downtown Chicago, organized by a group not part of the main activist coalition, police were far outnumbered by the dozens of demonstrators.
Lines of police in riot gear and carrying wooden batons blocked off a busy downtown street to keep protesters at bay. At one point, police surrounded protesters in a public square, resulting in several minor injuries and dozens of arrests.
Snelling, who praised the officers’ response, denied that police had “kettled” protesters — when police herd protesters into an enclosed space, a tactic banned under a Chicago consent decree. He called the response “proportionate.”
Still, the images of the confrontation between Chicago police and protesters brought back memories of 1968.
The demonstration outside the consulate was promoted with the slogan “Make it great like 68.” As police and protesters approached, activists began chanting “The whole world is watching,” a phrase used during the 1968 protests.
Speed and city leaders have repeatedly said that Chicago has evolved in the 50-plus years since then, including hosting the 1996 Democratic National Convention, which went off largely without a hitch.
“Let’s put 1968 behind us,” Snelling told reporters. “Let’s stop talking about 1968. This is 2024.”
Activists also claimed responsibility for the largely peaceful protests, saying they had their own security and were adhering to city protocols.
A small group of delegates who are part of the “non-committed” movement dissatisfaction expressed with not being able to speak within the convention and complained that mention was made of Palestinians, who make up the vast majority of the population. 40,000 dead killed in Gaza since October — were few and far between. During Wednesday’s congressional program, the parents of a 23-year-old American who was taken hostage spoken by Hamas during the October 7 attack in southern Israel.
Still, activists admitted the crowd was smaller than expected.
Some protesters speculated that Vice President Kamala Harris’s new Democratic nominee might have kept some people home. While signs and chants at the protests called her complicit in the war, many said they would wait until she announced her plans for U.S. involvement in the war.
“I’m curious about what she does for health care. I’m concerned about her policies on Palestine and Gaza,” said pharmacist Fedaa Balouta, who is Palestinian. “Our voice matters.”
Bayan Ruyyashi, a 30-year-old biologist from the Chicago suburbs, said she had little hope that the protests, regardless of size, would have a meaningful impact on those attending the conference.
Instead she said she was a march on wednesday so that her three children – aged 8, 5 and 6 months – could witness the sense of community and solidarity on display.
“I want them to feel that we have support. It’s not just what we hear from Democrats,” said Ruyyashi, whose family is Palestinian and Jordanian. “I want them to know that we are fighting for our homeland.”