Pro-Palestinian demonstrators arrested near Israeli consulate in Chicago

Police made at least four arrests Tuesday night after pro-Palestinian demonstrators charged officers in Chicago.

Dozens of protesters, some wearing black and some carrying Palestinian Flags, gathered outside a building that houses the Israeli consulate in Chicago, roughly 2 miles away from where the Democratic National Convention is ongoing.

One of the protesters was encouraging the others to "shut down the DNC." Others burned an American flag.

The protest was considered illegal, since demonstrators did not obtain a permit for their gathering.

Scripps News witnessed Chicago Police in scuffles with demonstrators, making use of bicycles to quickly respond to the protesters and creating temporary barricades.

Earlier arrests

Thirteen people were arrested Monday, many of them who were involved in a breach of security fencing in a park at the DNC site. Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said about 3,500 people were present at Monday's demonstrations, the overwhelming majority of them peaceful. Those arrested faced charges including criminal trespass, resisting and obstructing an arrest and aggravated battery of police officers.

New fencing and reinforcement went up around the DNC on Tuesday. There were no protesters or police in that park on Tuesday.

Fifteen people had been arrested in connection with protests as of Tuesday morning, police officials said.

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The convention is drawing protesters from around the country, mostly focused on ending U.S. support for Israel's war in Gaza. They see the latest chapter in the conflict there, sparked by the assault in Israel by the militant group Hamas, as a form of genocide — with more than 40,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel says more than 1,200 of its people were killed and more than 200 taken hostage in the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that prompted its response in Gaza.