CHICAGO — The stakes were high as tens of thousands of Democrats descended on Chicago this week. nominating conventionand law enforcement are preparing for potentially violent protests outside the United Center.
comparisons were made with 1968 Chicago conventionduring the civil rights movement and during the Vietnam War, when national unrest sowed an atmosphere of violence and chaos.
The 2024 Democratic National Convention unfolded quite differently, with both protests and policing bearing little resemblance to the mayhem of 56 years earlier.
“If the 1968 convention went down as an example of police brutality, the 2024 convention will go down as an example of constitutional policing,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told reporters Friday.
They were officers of the Chicago Police Department A department official said it is trained to take a disciplined and patient approach that protects free speech and allows people to protest legitimately. In a number of situations where there are tensions tensions rose between police and protesters, with police cracking down on a small number of people who attacked officers or disobeyed orders to disperse.
“The department has been training for this for over a year,” a Chicago Police Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, told NBC News.
The training is “focused on de-escalation,” the official said, adding that the department has an appetite for training that will have a “transformative” impact.
“We’re trying to move away from the old image of the Chicago Police Department,” the official said.
Demonstrations from Sunday to Thursday were largely peaceful, with one notable exception: A protest on Tuesday by Behind Enemy Lines and Samidoun, a group banned in Israel and Germany praising the October 7 attack by Hamas, quickly turned violent. During the confrontation, more than 50 people were arrested, at least four people were slightly injured.
In total, 74 people were arrested between Monday and Thursday, according to Chicago police. The department estimated that the number of people who attended the protest was in the thousands, far fewer than the tens of thousands of organizers had estimated.
Several hundred people gathered in downtown Chicago on Sunday for a protest organized by Bodies Beyond Unjust Laws, which describes itself as a coalition of left-wing organizations advocating for a broad list of issues, including reproductive justice and ending war. Gaza.
On Monday, the Coalition held its March on the DNC rally. Organizers said they expected 20,000 people to attend, and about 15,000 did, but police put the number closer to 4,000 to 6,000.
It was largely peaceful until the demonstrators arrived at the convention. At that time, a group of protesters climbed the perimeter fence and began to dismantle it. People tried to rush into the barricaded area as the police, dressed in riot gear, ordered them to disperse.
Police Chief Larry Snelling told reporters the next day that officers quickly restored the fences after consulting with Secret Service officials. During the briefing, he praised both the police officers for their restraint and the majority of the protesters who “just wanted to make their voices heard.”
“We are now demonstrating the preparations and exercises that we have been engaged in for over a year,” he said.
But just a few hours later, the mood turned sour when a protest broke out in front of the Israeli consulate turned violent.
Pro-Palestinian groups repeatedly defied orders to disperse, crowding police lines, throwing signs and water bottles at riot officers and improvising several hundred demonstrators through the streets of downtown Chicago after police tried to stop them.
Michael Boyte, co-founder of Behind Enemy Lines, said organizing groups had no intention of clashing with police that day and rejected the notion that law enforcement had been restrained in responding to the demonstrations.
“From the moment we got there, there was an intimidating show of force on behalf of the CPD, and they made it clear that they would not allow any freedom of expression at the consulate,” he said. “We believe that protesting the genocide is a legal right and a moral duty.”
For the rest of the week, several thousand protesters took to the streets each evening in mostly peaceful demonstrations. Several protesters staged a sit-in on Wednesday night without incident.
While the number of protesters during the week fell short of organizers’ estimates, they still turned out in larger numbers than last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“The story is that the police are not the story,” said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a police think tank in Washington.
Ed Obayashi, a former police officer who has consulted with many police departments in California on use-of-force issues, said Chicago police generally handled the convention well and that the protests were not of the number or intensity to significantly disrupt events.
“Their presence has largely prevented violence. It was clear and authoritative,” he said, referring to Chicago police.
But Brad Thomson, a volunteer attorney with the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago who has been following the protests all week, said the “massive” police response was “totally disproportionate to the size of the crowd.”
Obayashi noted, however, that with the small number of protesters and the minute number of people who wanted to be disruptive, he couldn’t “see” the buttons of law enforcement. Also notable was the presence of Chief Superintendent Snelling, who was seen on the front line with police officers throughout the week.
Sometimes he personally intervened to handle a particular police case. For example, on Wednesday, after a woman threw a water bottle at an officer and was caught, police officials said Snelling personally intervened and she was released and not booked.
Terence Monahan, a former top New York Police Department officer, said, “He’s not behind a desk, he’s out front, he’s able to control his people.” “He sees what is happening with his own eyes. He can direct the measures to be taken.”
Several protesters agreed with the police’s repeated display of restraint and discipline, but feared it was a temporary act that would fade away once attention was drawn from Chicago.
“I’m a little cynical,” said Chicago resident Eduardo Castelao. “The city has told the officers to be quiet, but it seems to me that they will be back to their regular jobs as soon as the convention is over.”
Nick Sous, an organizer with the US Palestinian Community Network, who helped organize the Coalition to March at the DNC, said that while he was “pleased” that the police were “doing their job,” he would have preferred them not come at all.
“I don’t think we need the police this week,” said Sauce, a Chicago resident. “Our marshals protected us properly,” he said.
