Thousands of protesters stretching for several blocks took to the streets on Monday, saying Democrats have no cause to celebrate when tens of thousands of Palestinians are being killed during Israel’s war in Gaza.
“This is the Vietnam War of our generation,” organizer Hatem Abudayyeh said, calling it incumbent upon protesters to make their voices heard just as they did in the 1960s and 1970s. “Joe Biden can turn off that tap of money and funding (to Israel) immediately.”
The Coalition to March on the DNC, made up of a wide array of organizations. The group is calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an end to U.S. aid to Israel.
The group held a raucous, hours-long rally in Union Park before the march stepped off, with appearances by independent presidential candidate Cornel West and musician and poet Jamila Woods, a Chicago native.
Thousands protest U.S. support of Israel during the war in Gaza near the site of the DNC on Aug. 19, 2024. (Emily Soto / WTTW News)
The fired-up crowd frequently broke out into chants of “free, free Palestine!” and repeatedly charged the Biden administration is complicit in the deaths of Palestinians because of the country supplying weapons and funding to Israel, calling the nation’s top Democrats “Genocide Joe” and “Killer Kamala”.
Multiple speakers mimicked Vice President Kamala Harris’s now-famous rejoinder during her debate with former Vice President Mike Pence, saying that it’s now activists’ turn to speak.
“There is no lesser of two evils when the so-called lesser is aiding and abetting a genocide,” said Faayani Aboma Mijana. They added that many Democratic politicians were swept into office after widespread protests for racial justice in 2020, but have failed to live up to promises like getting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act through Congress.
Abudayyeh put it more succinctly while rallying the crowd, saying he doesn’t “give a sh-t” if Democrats lose the White House in November.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling oversees officers as thousands protest U.S. support of Israel during the war in Gaza near the site of the DNC on Aug. 19, 2024. (Emily Soto / WTTW News)
The march began nearly an hour after its scheduled start time, stepping off west down Washington Street toward the United Center. The coalition fought the city in court to get a protest route within sight and sound of the arena, winning a path that saw them end up at a small park a few blocks to the north.
Chicago police officers with bicycles lined the streets along the protest route.
Dozens of demonstrators broke through a fence set up by police near the United Center. Police officers put on gas masks as some on the crowd tried to bring down a second fence set up in front of police.
Police replace a piece of fence knocked down by protesters surrounding the United Center at the Democratic National Convention after a march Monday, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo / Frank Franklin II)
Several protesters who had managed to get through the fence were detained and handcuffed by the police.
“Demonstrators breached a portion of anti-scale fencing along the Democratic National Convention’s outer perimeter,” a statement from the DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center read. “Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation. At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees.”
Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg
