Chicago ramps up security ahead of major pro-Palestinian march outside DNC

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Security is ramping up in Chicago ahead of a major pro-Palestinian march outside of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center, which begins today.

The first of many protests was expected on Monday, when it is reported “tens of thousands” of people could gather near the United Center to demonstrate against the Biden-Harris administration’s stance on Israel, organisers say.

An estimated 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza and 85 per cent of people displaced from their homes there since the war’s onset.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are expected to accept their nominations this week but face significant disruption from protests both inside and outside the event.

One group, the March on the DNC coalition, said it intends “to bring the people’s agenda to within sight and sound of the Democratic Party leadership” and are holding protests today and Thursday.

The march today will start at Union Park and end up at Park 578, a couple of blocks north of the United Center. Organizers sued the city earlier this year, arguing restrictions over where they can protest violated their constitutional rights. They have now been allowed to have a stage and sound system at Park 578.

Organizers say numbers could hit more than 100,000. Police have been preparing for the DNC for a year, city officials said last week, and hundreds of officers from Illinois and Milwaukee have been brought in to support.

Police superintendent Larry Snelling previously said police received fresh de-escalation training, while 3,000 officers have undergone specialized training to “respond directly to civil unrest and the possibility of riots.”

County courts say they are opening more space in anticipation of mass arrests and hospitals near the security zone are beefing up emergency preparedness.

Securing the areas around the convention sites has been a huge task, involving 17 different agencies, including the Secret Service. The agency has been heavily scrutinized since the assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, resigned last month after growing calls to stand down and several investigations into how a gunman was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee.

Parallels have been made between this year’s DNC and the event in 1968, also held in Chicago, where mass protests over the Vietnam war and police riots turned violent.

But Snelling said: “It’s not 1968. Our officers are trained differently. The department has evolved. Our officers have evolved. We’ve been training for this event for over a year, so the preparedness is what’s important.”

When pressed on whether things could turn ugly, he told the Associated Press last week: “There’s a possibility that things could take a turn. Something could happen that we don’t expect. We know that our officers can respond in a professional manner with training behind them. They’ll be more effective in decision making. And then the response becomes greater and better.”

Many of those protesting the Israel-Hamas war at the DNC this week will include students who have been demonstrating in the last year on college campuses.

Universities are bracing themselves as students prepare for the new school year. While the summer break provided a respite in student demonstrations, it also gave both student protesters and higher education officials a chance to regroup and strategize for the fall semester.

The stakes remain high. At Columbia University in New York, where the wave of pro-Palestinian tent encampments began, President Minouche Shafik resigned after coming under heavy scrutiny for her handling of the demonstrations.

Her resignation came just days after the school confirmed that three deans had resigned after officials said they exchanged disparaging texts during a campus discussion about Jewish life and antisemitism.

Joe Biden is expected to take to the stage to headline the opening night this evening.