Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
CBS Chicago
First protest takes off in downtown Chicago an evening ahead of DNC
By Joe DonlonIrika SargentDave Savini,
3 hours ago
Protesters gather in downtown Chicago ahead of DNC 01:59
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A day ahead of the Democratic National Convention, protesters held a rally and march downtown late Sunday.
Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws, a coalition of feminist and LGBTQ+ organizations held a rally on Wacker Drive just east of Michigan Avenue early Sunday evening. While these groups were the organizers, the rally later became one for the pro-Palestinian cause.
A march south on Michigan Avenue followed.
About 200 people were in attendance at the protest as of 5:30 p.m.—holding signs and in some instances Pride or Palestinian flags. By the time the group was ready to march, the crowd had grown to 500 people.
It was estimated that there were more police officers than protesters at that time. Police Supt. Larry Snelling was at the scene.
Officers were on bicycles at the scene, ensuring that everyone was kept safe and the crowd was kept together.
Mandy Medley—a leader in Chicago for Abortion Rights and a co-owner of the employee-owned and operated bookstore Pilsen Community Books, and Scout Bratt---a spokesperson for Jewish Voice for Peace and a member of the social justice group Avodah, served as the emcees of the Sunday evening event.
A total of 13 speakers were set to address the crowd between the opening and closing rallies for the event.
Former police Supt. Eddie Johnson says department is prepared
The protest Sunday is expected to be dwarfed by protests later in the week, notably the protest by the Coalition to March on the DNC on Monday. This protest and others during the convention will focus on the pro-Palestinian cause.
Former Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said officers have received proper training for the worst-case scenario in a protest, and crucially, supervisors have also received proper training.
"The supervisors have to, you know, constantly monitor the skirmish lines to make sure the officers are in the right state of mind to be able to deal with protesters," Johnson said.
There have been concerns about whether officers have received proper training to protect protesters' First Amendment rights, or to distinguish peaceful protesters from those who might cause problems. But Johnson said he is confident that both officers and supervisors have received the proper training—in particular the supervisors who need to remove officers whose emotions might be getting too heated.
Johnson added that police need to exercise discretion when it comes to how officers are sent out to respond to a protest. In the case of the Sunday evening protest, officers on bicycles have been on the scene rather than officers in riot gear.
"Here's the philosophy—so a crowd like this, you don't want to come in as the police and agitate them and show them a hard look right off the bat, because what you're signaling to them is that you're ready for a fight, and that's just not the case with this protest group here," Johnson said. "Sometimes, you'll get groups that come in that you know are going to be agitators, that you have to have to show up in the BDUs—the battle dress uniforms and the riot helmets. But a crowd like this—I think that they're playing it correctly."
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0