Protesters at DNC praise Chicago anti-war efforts as major success

Several protests took place during the Democratic National Convention. Organisers say they did something leaders inside did not: Make the Israeli genocidal war on besieged Gaza part of the agenda.

The stakes were high for Chicago. Despite hosting more political conventions than any other American city, comparisons to the infamous 1968 convention, when police clashed with protesters on live television, were hard to shake. And one protest that resulted in dozens of arrests and tense police standoffs did not help.

But organisers who won the right to protest near the United Center, and police, who spent more than a year preparing, say they were successful in broadcasting different narratives about the nation’s third-largest city.

"This is a very large contingent of people who are not willing to stand by quietly while people who are committing genocide are in our city," said student organiser Liz Rathburn. "We showed the world that."

Expectations for massive protests in Chicago — which came a month after the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee — were high.

Chicago is known for its mass mobilisations, including in 2006 when nearly half a million people took to the streets to call for immigrant rights.

'We were the show'

Hatem Abudayyeh, a lead organiser and co-founder of the US Palestinian Community Network, said he was pleased with the turnout and the message of the largely family-friendly demonstrations that drew on the Chicago area's large Palestinian population.

While activists backing numerous progressive causes came to Chicago, they united on a pro-Palestinian, anti-war message.

"We were the show," Abudayyeh said. "The excitement was happening out here in the streets."

Most of the large protests were relatively peaceful, but there were dozens of arrests after one group broke part of the security fence around the United Center and following a demonstration outside the Israeli Consulate.

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling, who was highly visible at all of the major protests, said law enforcement leadership and communication with protest organisers contributed to the calm around convention. While Chicago had out-of-town police agencies helping with convention security, Chicago's force alone handled the protests.

During the largest marches, hundreds of Chicago officers on bicycles lined the streets and guided protesters through residential streets surrounding the United Center.

However, police also faced criticism for their tactics and what some called excessive officer presence.

Flashes of 1968 Vietnam war protests

Outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago — organised by a group that was not part of the main activist coalition — there was a huge police presence.

Rows of officers in riot gear and with wooden clubs closed off a busy downtown street to block in protesters. At one point, police surrounded protesters at a plaza, which resulted in several injuries and dozens of arrests.

Snelling, who praised officers' handling, denied that police had "kettled" protesters — when police corral demonstrators in a confined area, a tactic that is banned under a Chicago consent decree.

In total, there were 74 arrests Monday through Thursday and no major injuries of protesters or police, Snelling said.

Still, the images of Chicago police and protesters facing off brought back flashes of 1968.

The demonstration outside the consulate was promoted with the slogan "Make it great like 68." Whenever police and protesters came close, activists would start chanting “The whole world is watching,” a phrase used in the 1968 protests.

Snelling and city leaders have repeatedly said Chicago has evolved in the more than 50 years since, including by hosting the 1996 Democratic National Convention that largely went off without a hitch.

A group of delegates who are part of the "uncommitted" movement expressed dissatisfaction that they couldn't speak inside the convention and complained that mentions of Palestinians were sparse.

During Wednesday's convention programme, the parents of a 23-year-old who Hamas took hostage during the October 7 raid in southern Israel spoke.

Bayan Ruyyashi, a 30-year-old biologist from the Chicago suburbs, said she had little hope that the protests, regardless of size, would have a meaningful impact on those inside the convention.

Rather, she said she attended a march on Wednesday so that her three children — ages 8, 5, and six months old — could witness the display of community and solidarity.

"I want them to feel that we have support. It’s not just what we’re hearing from Democrats," said Ruyyashi, whose family is Palestinian and Jordanian. "I need them to know that we’re fighting for our homeland."