September 12, 2024
CHICAGO (AP) — More than a dozen pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested Tuesday during a protest that began outside the Israeli consulate and spilled out onto the surrounding streets on the second night of the Democratic National Convention.
The intense confrontations with officers began minutes into the demonstration, after some protesters – many dressed in black, their faces covered – charged at a line of police that had blocked the group from marching. They eventually moved past the officers, but were penned in several times throughout the night by police in riot gear. Officers called the demonstrations “an unlawful assembly.”
Earlier in the night, officers carrying wooden clubs shouted “move” and penned some demonstrators in on the street, preventing them from marching.
Some demonstrators set an American flag on fire in the street as the celebratory roll call for Vice President Kamala Harris took place inside the United Center about 2 miles away. Others carried Palestinian flags, while many others wore black and covered their faces.
As protesters regrouped and approached a line of police in riot gear in front of a Chicago skyscraper that houses the Israeli consulate, an officer said into a megaphone, “You are ordered to immediately disperse.” A woman in the front of the march shouted back with her own megaphone: “We’re not scared of you.”
Police kept protesters confined to a block of Madison Street, a normally bustling downtown thoroughfare where traffic was halted on both ends Tuesday evening.
The consulate has been the site of numerous demonstrations since the war in Gaza began in October. It is in a building connected to the Ogilvie Transportation Center, a major commuter rail station.
Law enforcement had closed down most of the entrances to the building on Tuesday, allowing commuters to come in only one entrance where armed officers were also posted. Many of the building’s shops were closed. Martha Hill, a spokeswoman for the Metra commuter rail service, said train service was running as normal.
Israel supporters, including some relatives of people kidnapped by Hamas, gathered earlier in the day at a pro-Israel art installation not far from the consulate to call on U.S. leaders to continue backing Israel and pushing for the release of hostages. The art installation included giant milk cartons bearing photos of some of the hostages.
Elan Carr, CEO of the Israeli-American Council, condemned the pro-Palestinian protesters who have descended on Chicago this week, calling them “fringe crazies” and demanding that U.S. leaders “stand unequivocally with the state of Israel.”
