Focus will be split when the Democratic National Convention arrives in Chicago. Inside the United Center, attendees and TV viewers will be glued to the Harris-Walz ticket.
But when cameras pan outside, eyes will shift to protesters.
Protest groups have been gearing up for months to take advantage of the attention coming to Chicago. They have planned at least seven large demonstrations, with more rallies unsanctioned by the city likely to come.
The groups plan to push a mix of causes, ranging from abortion rights to the local firefighter union’s contract. Several will decry the federal government’s support of Israel, while yet another organization is seeking to show solidarity with the warring country.
The flurry of demonstrations is a part of democracy Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has, at least in word, welcomed with open arms. At a news conference Friday, the mayor noted — as he has repeatedly since his election — that he once led protesters in large demonstrations himself.
“They don’t have to be concerned about their First Amendment right,” Johnson said. “I’m going to make sure that these individuals have everything that they need to make sure that their voices are heard.”
But the mayor also can’t afford for a national audience to get treated to scenes of chaos or violence on Chicago’s streets.
His police superintendent, Larry Snelling, has stated the department’s protest focus will be on “constitutional policing,” but vowed officers will intervene “the moment” things get out of control.
“We will not allow people to come here and destroy the city,” Snelling told the City Club earlier this week.
The lingering fears of violence bubbling up are inspired in part by the 1968 DNC, marred by police attacks on protesters. Pundits and demonstrators have tried to tie this year’s convention to that one, while city leaders have more often cited the far-calmer 1996 DNC and 2012 NATO summit when describing their prep.
Despite the rosy picture of protest support Johnson has painted, virtually all organizers planning demonstrations have blasted city authorities for having a slow, confusing and at times apparently hostile permit approval process. Several have even taken the city to court to get marches approved, including a pro-Palestinian protest coalition that won a key concession Friday from the city to hold speeches with a stage and sound equipment in Union Park.
Unplanned and unpermitted protests are possible, and logistical changes are sure to come among the many groups that plan to demonstrate.
But just days away from the convention, the plans and aims of the protesters are becoming clear. Through interviews with protest leaders and with permit information shared Friday by the city, the Tribune has made a list of the expected marches and rallies.
Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws march
- Start: 5 p.m. Sunday at Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue.
- Focus: Abortion rights, LGBTQ+ rights, stopping Israel’s war efforts in Gaza.
- Route: Down Michigan Avenue to the southern end of Grant Park.
- Organizers: Primarily abortion and LGBTQ+ rights groups alongside other leftist organizations.
The DNC protests will start a full day before the United Center even opens. Like other protest groups, the coalition backing this first march has a laundry list of issues, but LGBTQ+ and abortion rights are top of mind for the group.
“What unites us is a demand for bodily autonomy,” organizer Andy Thayer said.
A long struggle with the city over permits ended with protesters winning a route down Michigan Avenue. The protest’s final destination is meant to send a message, Thayer said. The group will walk to Grant Park’s Gen. John Logan statue — a focal point of the raucous 1968 DNC protests.
March on the DNC first march
- Start: Monday at noon at Union Park.
- Focus: Ending U.S. aid to Israel, support of other leftist stances like more money for health care and housing.
- Route: Speeches in Union Park, then west mostly along Washington Boulevard before another stop for speeches at Park 578. Continues north on Damen Avenue and back to Union Park on Lake Street.
- Organizers: Pro-Palestinian and leftist groups.
The groups behind the March on the DNC have fought the city in federal court over permits for months. So far, their efforts have won them two marches, one Monday and another Thursday. The protest’s leaders on Friday also won the right to use stages and sound equipment at Union Park, giving them to locations to stop for speeches.
The Monday march may very well be the week’s biggest. Pro-Palestinian groups from across the Midwest plan to take charter buses to Chicago for the event, organizer Hatem Abudayyeh said.
“The majority of the people are going to be here for day one,” he said.
The group has organized medics and trained supporters in de-escalation. Many of its leaders have led Gaza-focused protests around Chicago for months. The coalition has won other permits, but leaders said they only plan to march once on Monday and once on Thursday.
Poor People’s Army march
- Start: Monday at 4 p.m. in Humboldt Park near Division Street and Sacramento Boulevard.
- Focus: Demand policies to fight poverty, including halting U.S. military aid to Israel and instead spending money to house impoverished Americans.
- Route: West on Division Street, south on Western Avenue, east on Maypole Avenue to Park 578, according to the city.
- Organizer: Philadelphia-based protest group Poor People’s Army
The Poor People’s Army has already been marching for a month. The group protested at the Republican National Convention in July in Milwaukee, and some members planned to head straight to Chicago from there on foot.
The out-of-town group that has demonstrated at every major political convention for two decades won a permit in Chicago in an apparent accident. The city was forced to give them approval by default when it failed to respond to an application in time.
Far left presidential candidates such as Cornel West and the Green Party’s Jill Stein are expected to join. But the route the group won in February is now in question — it takes protesters right past the United Center and well inside the security perimeter announced by the Secret Service in July.
That hasn’t changed the plans of the organizers, who hosted a “civil disobedience” training Friday. They say they will shirk the city’s route and instead go east on Madison Street to the United Center. They will keep going when they get to the no-go zone’s fence, organizer Cheri Honkola said.
“We’re going to continue to take the route that they were basically forced to give us,” she said. “Nobody wants to be arrested. But we think that there’s a higher law.”
Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine march
- Start: Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in Union Park
- Focus: End Israel’s war efforts in Gaza and halt U.S. aid to Israel
- Route: No pre-planned route because organizers did not apply for a permit
- Organizer: Local pro-Palestinian groups
The Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine had planned to apply for a permit. But the day Chicago police cleared a DePaul University protest encampment, leaders ripped the application in half outside City Hall.
The coalition has planned many of Chicago’s pro-Palestinian marches over the last year. While the marches have been loud and disruptive, they generally have not resulted in violence. Organizers have tried to map out routes with police on the fly, though their big and small crowds have at times blocked major roadways such as Interstate 90 and DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
Abudayyeh, who is also spokesperson for this coalition, said protesters hope to take a long path and will work with police to chart a course.
“We are protesting every day because the world is going to be watching,” Abudayyeh said. “We are trying to stop a genocide. This is the Vietnam War of our generation.”
Israeli American Council rally
- Start: Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Park 578.
- Focus: Show support for Israel.
- Location: Park 578.
- Organizer: The nationwide group Israeli American Council.
The war in Gaza will be a top focus among demonstrators next week. But not all of them share the same opinion.
The pro-Palestinian marches across the country and planned for the DNC caught the attention of Aya Shechter, chief programming officer for the Israeli American Council. Shechter has moved ahead on a pro-Israel rally over the last few weeks.
The message is simple, she said: “We stand with Israel.”
Like others, the Los Angeles-based, nationwide group struggled to get a permit, but finally won one earlier this week. They do not plan to host a coinciding march, but will also put on a “hostage square” exhibition Tuesday aimed at bringing attention to the Israeli people kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7 who are still being held hostage.
The group’s Wednesday rally in Park 578 — two blocks north of the United Center — might cross paths with the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine’s march, which is also set to occur Wednesday evening near the United Center.
March on the DNC second march
- Start: Thursday at 5 p.m. at Union Park.
- Focus: Ending U.S. aid to Israel, support of other leftist stances such as more money for health care and housing.
- Route: Speeches in Union Park, then west mostly along Washington Boulevard before another stop for speeches at Park 578. Continues north on Damen Avenue and back to Union
Park on Lake Street. - Organizers: Pro-Palestinian and leftist groups.
This March on the DNC is a carbon-copy of the one planned for Monday in logistics and purpose. But it may have fewer participants with many out-of-town demonstrators expected to head home after the first go.
Still, the Thursday march will take place in a prime moment. The Gaza-focused, pro-Palestinian protesters will be marching around the same time Vice President Kamala Harris accepts the Democratic presidential nomination.
“We chose the end of the day to coincide,” said Abudayyeh, also a key planner for this march.
Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2 contract protest
- Start: Daily between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. at Madison Street and Ashland Avenue.
Focus: Demand a collective bargaining contract with the city.
Route: Back and forth on several Madison Street blocks near the start.
Organizer: Local 2, Chicago’s rank-and-file firefighter union.
Chicago’s rank-and-file firefighters’ union has been without a new collective bargaining contract for three years. It’s taken too long, says union President Pat Cleary.
Among other demands, the union wants more paramedics and ambulances. But the city is stalling at the bargaining table and not responding to the union’s proposals.
“It’s just a game,” Cleary said. “So we’re going to let ‘em know. We’re going to protest.”
The firefighters union does not have a protest permit. They were denied for “bogus” reasons, Cleary said. They have put up billboards to gain even more publicity and plan to march anyway. Cleary had at first promised only a Tuesday demonstration, but later said the union would protest every day during the DNC.
“I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do,” he said.
Speaking platform rallies
Chicago authorities are allowing various groups to use equipment provided by the city at Park 578 to hold speeches. So far, 29 different 45-minute speaking slots making use of a stage and sound equipment have been scheduled.
Most of the speakers planning to take the stage represent far-left groups, according to a schedule shared by the city. But open slots remain and other political interests have staked a claim, such as the conservative Illinois Policy think-tank. Many of the speaking slots are held by groups planning to stop in the park during marches.
jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
