Mass Arrests As Protesters, Police Clash At Israeli Consulate During Chicago DNC

CHICAGO — A second day of pro-Palestinian protests surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago brought out fewer demonstrators, but more of them ended up getting arrested.

At least 55 and as many as 72 people were taken into custody Tuesday night after Chicago police declared an unpermitted protest outside the Israeli consulate to be unlawful and moved to disperse the gathered crowd about 2 miles east of the United Center.

"Last night was a danger to our city and a danger to our citizens in this city — our residents, property — and CPD had to protect that, so CPD stepped up," Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters Wednesday.

"We declared a mass arrest after our officers were physically confronted and attacked," Snelling said. "We were not the initiators of violence, but we responded to it."

Two protesters suffered minor injuries and were treated and released, Snelling said, while two officers with minor injuries refused medical attention because they did not want to leave their fellow officers. Chicago's top cop also said three journalists were arrested, though he did not know with what offenses they were charged.

Organizers of the antiwar protesters, a group called Behind Enemy Lines, issued a statement accusing Snelling of lying about the protests.

"The reality is that every arrest, every bit of brutality toward protesters, and every person slammed against the concrete falls squarely on Brandon Johnson and his thugs in the CPD," it said. "The violent force in the streets tonight was the CPD, acting in defense of the genocide convention happening in the enclosed citadel of the United Center. "

The anti-Israeli protesters, who had announced plans to "make it great like '68" in reference to the 1968 DNC, portrayed the police response as part of a long history of repression against those challenging the ruling class and accused city leaders of defending the violence against Palestinians.

"It's 2024, and the Chicago Police Department proved that," Snelling said. "So let's get off of 1968. Let's stop talking about 1968. This is 2024, and the Chicago Police Department is proving that every single day."

Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said city officials welcome peaceful protests, but the confrontation with police Tuesday on Madison Street was not one of them.

"To call last night a protest would be disrespectful to people who have actually protested things that have moved societies forward across the country," Gatewood said. "That wasn't what we had last night. What we had was we had people who came down to the city to cause harm, to wreak havoc."

The National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, which had more than two dozen legal observers on hand to monitor the protest, accused police of provoking confrontations, rushing the crowd and attacking people indiscriminately.

“The repressive police response to a Palestine solidarity protest at the Israeli Consulate seemed preplanned and designed to stifle free expression during the Democratic National Convention,” Chicago NLG spokesperson Ben Meyer said in a statement. “Assurances that the City would respect people’s First Amendment rights during the convention rings hollow next to this brazenly aggressive approach to free expression.”

The protest outside the Israeli consulate was one of many across Chicago that called for an end to U.S. financial support to the Israeli military amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.

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And the unrest wasn’t limited to the streets. Inside the Auditorium Theatre, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted a live taping of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" multiple times during the host's interview with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

As Pelosi discussed U.S. foreign policy and Israel, demonstrators shouted out the U.S. to cut funding for Israel's military operations. Colbert, a Northwestern and Second City alum, acknowledged the protesters but urged them to allow the conversation to continue.

"They said that the United States should not have any role in supplying Israel arms to kill the people of Gaza," Colbert told Pelosi after she said she couldn't understand the protesters' shouts. "That's what they're saying."

"Israel has a right to defend itself," Pelosi said.

"But the other part of it that has been so major for all of us for many years is that there must be a two-state solution," she said. "You cannot have peace unless you have Israel, a secure Jewish democratic state in the region, and the Palestinians having their own secure country there as well. Unless you have a two-state solution, you will not have a resolution of this."