Chicago Police Brutalized Gaza Protesters As Democrats Celebrated “Freedom”

On the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Chicago Police Department (CPD) Superintendent Larry Snelling stood at the center of a throng of at least fifty officers, many with blue riot helmets and wooden batons strapped to their waists. “Naysayers will tell you that we couldn’t do this and couldn’t do it properly. That we were not going to make it through.” he said, turning to look into the eyes of his stone-faced officers. “You guys performed the way you were trained to perform…To protect this city and protect these people. Because you stepped up, we protected this city tonight.”

Earlier in the evening, as many as 400 police officers descended upon approximately 150 demonstrators gathered in front of the Israeli Consulate, kettling the crowd between one block and arresting 59 individuals—including four journalists. 

After Snelling’s pep talk, officers congratulated themselves on a job well done, shaking hands and clapping each other on the shoulders. Down the block, a dozen arrested demonstrators were held upright and handcuffed with cable ties just beside a paddywagon, where they had been waiting for over an hour and a half. 

“The City of Chicago has just displayed some of the best policing in America,” Mayor Brandon Johnson declared at a press conference Friday morning. The city mobilized 2,500 CPD officers and an additional 500 officers from departments across Illinois and in Milwaukee for the DNC. “If the 1968 convention went down in history as the example of police brutality, then the 2024 convention will go down as the example of constitutional policing.” Yet demonstrators and advocates have called into question the use of force during arrests, and whether the First Amendment rights of the pro-Palestine protesters were protected. 

The National Lawyers Guild reported 76 arrests throughout the week of the DNC. On Monday, after a handful of demonstrators separated from the March on the DNC rally and temporarily breached a security fence outside the United Center, where the DNC is being held, CPD issued a mass arrest order, arresting 13. At least one arrested individual was questioned by Secret Service agents while in holding. According to the lawyer’s guild, another was held for over 40 hours, and four were hospitalized—two as a result of police abuse. One person’s joints swelled after being shackled to a wall by their arms and legs. (The department already has a long documented history of police violence and misconduct). Inside the convention, there was a different tone. “The word ‘freedom’ is seemingly on the lips of every attendee and speaker,” said ABC News.

Tuesday evening’s action in front of the Israeli Consulate was organized by Behind Enemy Lines, an anti-imperialist militant group that called on demonstrators to “make it great like ‘68,” referring to the protests the last time the DNC was held in Chicago, when demonstrators were brutally repressed for protesting the Vietnam War. This time, organizers urged demonstrators to “shut down the DNC for Gaza.” CPD took the messaging as a sign that the demonstrators were planning on committing acts of violence and, as Snelling declared in a press conference the following day, met them with an “overwhelming” show of force. A CPD van with two National Guard members in the front idled down an adjacent block.

“I saw no evidence that anyone committed an act of violence on Tuesday night—other than CPD,” said Benjamin Meyer, an attorney with NLG. “I saw reports that people had been thrown to the ground and other other acts of violence committed by the police.” 

“People were brutalized,” one individual who was arrested, who wished to remain anonymous given ongoing legal proceedings, told me. They added that some of those arrested weren’t in the crowd that was kettled, but were cornered by officers on a sidewalk on the edge of the police line and arrested. 

CPD gave demonstrators multiple dispersal orders—but no feasible, safe way to disperse amidst contradictory directives. “It was terrifying,” one protester who wished to remain anonymous said. “They told us we had to leave but we had nowhere to go.” Officers with bike barricades flanked the crowd at all sides, and in moments where the lines of police and the crowd collided, made multiple aggressive arrests. 

The turnout was small—even the media outnumbered the protesters. One officer repeatedly beckoned a demonstrator in bloc, all black clothing, to get closer. “Why?” He asked, taking a step towards the police line. Three officers immediately grabbed him as others pressed their batons down on the extended arms of other demonstrators who tried to pull him back to safety. The demonstrator was quickly enveloped, pushed to the ground, and detained. When one demonstrator was grabbed from the line, seemingly at random, officers swarmed in and piled onto them with batons before a new line of officers moved in front. The only thing visible through the wall of police was a baton in the air as it descended onto the demonstrator on the ground.