DNC protest ends with arrests after demonstrators refuse to disperse

Protest demonstrations on the second night of the Democratic National Convention were also disbanded under arrests after a pro-Palestinian group with a militant inclination led several hundred people in an unauthorised route in the downtown Chicago when attempt was made to stop them by the police. 
 
The protest that took place on Tuesday night has been organised by Behind Enemy Lines, a leftist group with militant tendencies. Another faction that was behind the protest was Samidoun, which both Germany and Israel have proscribed and accused of having links to terrorists. Note that the U. S has not listed Samidoun as a terrorist group. 
 
“Dozens of people were brutally arrested outside the Israeli consulate by Brandon Johnson’s thugs defending the genocidal criminals inside the DNC,” Behind Enemy Lines said on Instagram late Tuesday referring to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. The Chicago Police Department did not respond to a request for comment about the number of arrests straight away. 
 
Police Superintendent Larry Snelling congratulated his officers for ‘going easy on people nobody else was giving a chance to, ‘adding that his officers ‘did a great job in confronting violence and vandalism. 
 
Some had come to the city with ‘hostility,’ ‘and that’s exactly what we saw tonight,’ he said to the press. A person said, “They crowded some officers. ” 
 
The protest started at the Israeli Consulate in downtown Chicago at about 7 p. m. local time where protesters were heard chanting Armenian , that is, pro-Palestinian songs. The consulate itself was surrounded and fortified with raised barriers and full groups of police on bicycles. 
 
But the scene outside the consulate on the street soon turned rowdy. On one occasion, the group delivered speeches and then briskly paraded down that part of the block where policemen armed with shields and truncheons stood. They proceeded straight to the police formation and as was expected the police advanced on the group and ordered them to scatter. 
 
The calls went unheeded. Some of the protesters also hurled their placards towards the police while there were physical confrontations with the police. 
 
Police seemed to make arrests at that point but others surged back onto the street in front of the consulate. 
 
“These are the enemy of the people, and we must move on these m-----f-----s,” said the leader of the protest, who wore a black mask and black sunglasses. 
 
On the other end of the street another group of several dozens of protesters supporting Israel behind a police cordon had gathered as well. 
 
Once again after a couple of minutes the pro-Palestinian protesters approached the line of the riot police, the officers warned to disperse again. 
 
The police officers then attempted to steer the protest participants away from the consulate along a long pathway made of walls of officers on bicycles toward other streets. 
 
It did not work: Again, the protestors resumed the formation of their cohort and started moving in the Chicago downtown area on an unknown trajectory. 
 
They moved on some of the streets that traffic had not been cleared, at one point surrounding a taxicab with occupants. 
 
After several blocks, the riot-equipped police officers start gradually to encircle the protesters at intersections. 
 
Quite a number of times, members of police force in riot gear would pen in the protesters, prevent further movement; eject media people from the scene, arrest a few protesters, tell the rest to disperse and then, after ensuring the crowd was significantly thin, the protesters were free to proceed. 
  
That came to a stop at Monroe and Canal street, where the police managed to stop the protest, and by commanding people to disperse one more time, and then proceeded to arresting nearly all protesters who refused to obey the order. 

The Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest said late Tuesday that it was “appalled to see violence during the protest in front of our offices. ” 

“This is anything but peaceful and completely contradictory to the spirit of the DNC,” it said in a statement. The professional protestors do not represent the millions of bipartisans who still remain firm in their support to Israel. 
 
The consulate described itself as “beyond disappointed with the constant encouragement the mayor has been providing to the anti-Israel demonstrations in Chicago, most recently during the DNC, and with his seeming negligence of the enormous pro-Israel and Jewish population in the city. ” 
 
It also said it was thankful to each and every Law enforcement official in charge of protecting the city during the convention. 
 
On the same day it was the second consecutive day that demonstrators had a bitter face off with the Law enforcers. For the kickoff march of the Coalition to March on the DNC, 3000-6000 protesters attended Monday. That event was rather calm, although some dozens of activists charged a cordon at the section that was as close as several hundred meters to the venue of the convention. Over 10 people were arrested, the DNC 2024 Joint Information Center noted in a statement, on Wednesday. 
 
Earlier Tuesday, Snelling said the police were “up for it” on the protests. 
 
He said those involved in the breach on Monday did not belong to the marchers as a whole. 
 
“But they found that among the protest, they had people who only wanted to demand their constitutional rights to say what they wanted to say,” he said.