Some protest groups are predicting 100,000 demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention next week. File that one under the "I'll believe it when I see it" category. The city and law enforcement authorities are keeping mum about their predictions of crowd size for the demonstrations but the more rational protest organizers are saying between 30,000 to 40,000 people are expected to march.
That's still an awfully large number for the Chicago Police Department to handle when you consider the immense area they're going to have to protect.
Chicago business owners at "Ground Zero" of the protests — the West Loop and the area around Union Park — are taking no chances. Some of them are old hands at these protests; the NATO protests of 2012, the George Floyd riots in 2020, and some businesses were around for the the 1996 Democratic convention.
What they know is that the cops are not going to protect their businesses.
Scott Shapiro of Syd Jerome Menswear says his storefront has been damaged during demonstrations on four different occasions and this time, he's taking no chances.
“We know from past experiences something could ensue so we want to be proactive and get ahead of it,” he said.
Chicago Board Up Services is doing land-office business this week helping business owners take the necessary precautions.
“If you feel you’re in any type of line where you feel there’s going to be a lot of commotion — we’re not pushing it — we’re hoping the city will be comfortable and there won't be no unrest. But if you feel you want your doors boarded, it’s better to have them boarded up than have to wait and replace glass,” said business manager Vicki Fichter.
One group called "Behind Enemy Lines" is advocating "Make it Great like '68" in reference to the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention.
“We’re not calling for violence or planning on anything illegal, but we think that there’s ways for people to protest that do go beyond business as usual,” said the spokesperson, who asked not to be named for obvious reasons.
"Behind Enemy Lines has opened a temporary office on Chicago’s Northwest Side, decorated with posters bearing slogans such as “Stop Killer Kamala” and “Fight Back for Gaza!" reports WBEZ. They plan to protest at the Israeli consulate on Tuesday along with other pro-Hamas groups. This will be the first real test for the Chicago police during the convention and of Behind Enemy Lines has anything to say about it, they will try their best to provoke a riot.
“It’s not the protesters who are going to harm residents of Chicago or surveil their children, right?” the Behind Enemy Lines spokesperson said. “If people are exercising not just their constitutional rights to free expression, but what I think is a moral obligation to confront this convention, I think they should do that, and they should stand up for themselves. And if there’s violence, that will come not from us, but from the police.”
This guy is not naive. He and his well-trained compatriots know exactly what they're doing, how to start a riot and make it look like it's the cop's fault.
Indeed, Behind Enemy Lines refuses to identify with any "coalition" who have gotten parade permits and the like.
“We don’t think there’s any reason to get a permit,” the spokesperson said. “We think you have the right and moral obligation to hold these events and not be in constant coordination and back and forth to City Hall and the police to do something that’s perfectly legal and morally justifiable.”
For those who say well, it's only one small group of fanatics, nothing the cops can't handle. It doesn't take a lot of activists, trained in street tactics, to start a riot. And it takes an extraordinarily professional response from the police to prevent chaos.
I'm not confident there won't be incidents. Whether the police can keep a lid on the protests is another story.
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