There will be no riots at this week's Democratic National Convention in Chicago. You can take that to the bank.
There are going to be tens of thousands of screaming, chanting, fist-shaking, hysterical pro-Hamas Muslims marching and demonstrating in the streets, and because they say they are acting peacefully, and the Democrats say they are acting peacefully, and the media say they are acting peacefully, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says they're acting peacefully, it won't matter what the reality is.
The demonstrators could throw rocks and bottles at police, toss Molotov cocktails into buildings, and go toe-to-toe with the cops trying to protect the convention's main venue, the United Center, and we'd be told that the protests are "mostly peaceful" because only a "few bad apples" rioted. The majority of protesters were "peaceful," we'd be told.
We'll find out soon enough. The biggest planned protest will step off on Monday, and organizers are claiming there is going to be a massive turnout.
There are at least six major protests planned on the streets of Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. The biggest is planned for the first day, Monday, when “tens of thousands” are expected to march just blocks from the United Center, where Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will give their acceptance speeches.
The “family-friendly march” is organized under a pro-Palestinian umbrella coalition that includes groups devoted to a variety of causes. Organizers are busing in protesters from Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana and Wisconsin, and activists are also coming in from New York and California, too.
There are also going to be dozens of other radical groups marching. An umbrella group calling themselves "March for Bodies Outside Unjust Laws" will protest "the Democratic Party's failure to live up to its rhetoric in favor of reproductive and LGBTQ rights," according to ABC7.
If they think what the Democrats have done is a "failure," lock up your wives and daughters.
The protesters got mad at Kamala Harris after she confronted screaming pro-Hamas fanatics in Michigan who were trying to drown her out. “Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now. I am speaking now,” she said to pro-Palestinian demonstrators who interrupted her address.
Big mistake. Never, ever confront fascist jihadists when they're violating someone's First Amendment rights. They're the only ones who have free speech rights, and shouting down people who disagree with them is morally justified because they're right and everyone else is wrong.
The big question politicians, protesters, reporters, and Chicago residents are asking is: Can the Chicago police avoid the disasters of 1968 and 2020? Abbie Hoffman's Yippies bragged before the 1968 convention that they were going to provoke the police into committing acts of violence. They were successful beyond their wildest imaginings. And despite a complete overhaul of police training methods to deal with protests and crowd control after 1968, an inspector general's report of the 2020 George Floyd riots heavily criticized police actions during the unrest.
Has anything changed since then?
Chicago’s top police officer, superintendent Larry Snelling, says the 2,500 officers policing the DNC protests have received 40 hours of training, with a focus on protecting protesters’ constitutional rights.
But he has also been clear that officers “are not going to tolerate” vandalism or violence.
“Physical responses to violence and civil unrest on the part of those who come here with plans to damage the city, or the reputation of the city, or to hurt people — the response is never going to be pretty. But it will be constitutional,” Snelling told reporters last month.
Any violent response from police is going to be criticized because, after all, the protesters are "mostly peaceful." In any melee, the cops are going to hit people who were just standing around. This is regrettable but inevitable. You can be sure that the politicians and activists are going to blame the police for any violence at the "mostly peaceful" protests.
No amount of specialized training can dull a police officer's instinct for self-preservation. The professional agitators who will be in the vanguard of the protesters know that and will do all they can to trigger the cops into lashing out.
But as long as the demonstrators are "mostly peaceful," all is well.
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