After a night of tense protests that saw dozens of arrests outside the Israeli consulate, Chicago’s top cop said Wednesday that his officers performed admirably in defending themselves from a violent group that showed up to attack police and “wreak havoc” on the city.
“We will not allow people to come to this city, disrespect it and destroy it,” police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters at a daily briefing at the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. “Enough is enough.”
Snelling told reporters there were between 55 and 60 arrests — including three journalists — during the pro-Palestinian demonstration. There were only two minor injuries, a testament, he said, to his officers’ restraint and readiness.
“Once we call the mass arrest, then it was at that point we needed to take people into custody for public safety,” Snelling said. “We attempted to avoid the clash, to no avail. But CPD is not going to run away. We will not stand by and allow our officers to be attacked, because an officer who cannot protect himself cannot protect this city.”
Snelling also said he was abhorred by the “vicious, nasty sexually explicit things” some demonstrators yelled at female officers.
“I have women in my family and the anger that I felt…” he said. “But let me tell you the pride that I have for those women who dealt with that, took it, did not lose their cool, and the (fellow) officers who did not lose theirs. Understand these are human beings … being spoken to in that way. But they stood their ground and they did what they had to do they didn’t overreact.”
Snelling was also asked why the protest drew so many journalists when other, more peaceful demonstrations in the city went largely uncovered.
“It sells,” Snelling said, adding there are those looking for a repeat of the chaos of the 1968 convention. “Why cover the people who are calling for peace? Everybody wants to see the carnage.”
Snelling’s comments come hours after the unsanctioned demonstration outside the consulate on Tuesday evening led to multiple arrests, as roughly 100 protesters commanded the attention of an even greater number of police and journalists.
Some of those arrested began appearing for bond hearings before a Cook County judge on Wednesday morning, including one defendant accused of resisting arrest after being found with spray paint and a CPD radio.
Groups of supporters filed into the pews at the temporary courtroom located at the Chicago police area headquarters at 2452 W. Belmont Ave., standing as Judge Mary Marubio called each arrestee.
A 33-year-old Crystal Lake man was charged with felony resisting arrest and a number of misdemeanors after prosecutors alleged he lowered his head and body and hit an officer, causing the officer to fall and be injured.
The man was part of a group that was carrying spray paint and the police radio, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors did not seek to hold him detained, and the judge ordered him released with some supervisory conditions.
Two more defendants also appeared before the judge Wednesday accused of charges in connection with Monday’s breaching of the security fence near the DNC site.
Many arrestees from Tuesday night’s protest were cited and released, but judges will hear cases for those who were held throughout the day.
Before the clash Tuesday demonstrators chanted “long live the intifada” as they headed toward the consulate, which is located in the Accenture Building on Madison Street. In the context of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, the term intifada has historically referred to an uprising against Israel using both violent and nonviolent means.
“There is only one solution,” protesters chanted. “Intifada revolution.”
DNC in Chicago: What happened Tuesday — and what’s coming Wednesday
Before the skirmish with police, protester Josh Taylor of Memphis, Tenn., told the Tribune that he didn’t want to see anyone hurt, but he believes the U.S. needs to stop supporting Israel. He said this issue was critical enough to merit civil disobedience.
“Different voices get their voices heard in different ways,” said Taylor, 36.
The consulate was heavily protected, with Chicago police officers outside the entrance and across the street, with several more visible inside. Snelling and other members of the CPD command staff stood outside the building monitoring as demonstrators stopped marching to hold a rally.
Authorities were able to move the demonstrators away from the building. Around 8:30 protestors squeezed past the police line and onto the sidewalk of Clinton Street, sparking an impromptu march through the surrounding blocks.
As the demonstrators chanted anti-police rhetoric, a masked protester set fire to a half-American, half-Israeli flag.
“(Expletive) this country,” a protester yelled. “Burn it down.”
A group of counterprotestors holding American and Israeli flags also demonstrated in the area, prompting police to stand 8 rows deep to separate the two groups.
The counterprotesters sang “Hatikvah” — the Israeli national anthem — and “God Bless America” from behind several lines of police in helmets, while the protesters took aim at police and Democratic leaders, chanting slogans about President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, his vice president who accepted the nomination from Democrats to succeed him Tuesday.
Tribune reporters witnessed multiple protesters being taken into custody, including two independent journalists. A spokesman for the National Lawyers’ Guild put the number at 67, including those journalists.
By 9 p.m. the crowd had mostly disbanded.
Another large protest of Israel’s military action in Gaza also is expected to step off with a rally in Union Park at 3 p.m. followed by a march toward the United Center that will follow the same path as Monday’s demonstration, which brought out some 3,000 attendees.
This is a developing story.
