13 People Arrested After DNC Perimeter Breach, Chicago Police Say They Were Unconnected to Approved March

CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling addresses yesterday’s demonstrations and security breach at a DNC public safety briefing on Aug. 20, 2024. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling addresses yesterday’s demonstrations and security breach at a DNC public safety briefing on Aug. 20, 2024. (Nick Blumberg / WTTW News)

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling on Tuesday praised his department’s handling of a Monday afternoon protest that saw a “brief breach” of the perimeter around the Democratic National Convention.

Snelling said his officers “showed great restraint” and “did not overreact.”

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Officers made 13 arrests Tuesday, the majority of which were related to the fence breach. That incident coincided with the Coalition to March on the DNC, an approved demonstration that saw an extensive police presence along the route. Snelling said that march was unconnected to the breach and made up of “people who simply wanted to exercise their First Amendment rights.”

Some of the protesters who damaged the fencing sprayed officers with pepper spray and threw objects at them, Snelling said. He also praised on-site supervisors for making sure our officers are “remembering our training.”

The charges facing those arrested include criminal trespass, resisting arrest and aggravated battery on police officers.

Of the 13 people arrested, 11 have already been charged and two more are awaiting charges, as of Tuesday morning, according to police records. Those charged range in age from 22 to 70 years old. Aggravated battery to a police officer is a felony; all of the other charges are misdemeanors or citations.  

Asked whether the department would make any changes after yesterday’s breach, Snelling said the department responded exactly as it should have.

“What we’ve been trained for worked,” he said. “Do we need to change anything? Absolutely not.”

But the National Lawyers Guild Chicago said police response to protests on Sunday and Monday has been “aggressive and, at times, violent.”

“On Sunday, CPD officers followed groups of protesters leaving a Palestine solidarity march down Michigan Avenue, later arresting two activists, one of whom was assaulted by CPD officers during their arrest, resulting in the person’s hospitalization,” the group said in a statement. “Another protester arrested on Monday while marching between Union Park and the United Center, where the DNC is being held, also needed hospitalization as a result of being roughed up by CPD.”

Snelling denied that officers used undue force or failed to respond to an arrestee’s medical needs. Asked about claims from a demonstrator that they were swept up by simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time, the superintendent offered a skeptical response: “Sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong time is indicative of the choices that you make to engage in criminal activity.”

The Lawyers Guild also said the two protesters arrested on Sunday were held for several hours without a lawyer and denied their legally protected right to a private phone call with an attorney. Snelling said he didn’t have details on those claims but that CPD officials would look into them.

The two Sunday protesters were charged with two misdemeanor counts each, according to arrest reports obtained by WTTW News. Both were charged with resisting or obstructing an officer, one with criminal property defacement, and the other with criminal property damage.

“The response by Chicago police to First Amendment-protected activity we’ve seen so far is extremely intimidating for people wanting to speak out at this crucial time,” Amanda Yarusso, a member of NLG Chicago’s Mass Defense Committee, said in a statement.

Tuesday’s DNC law enforcement briefing also covered long lines some convention attendees were stuck in on Monday, with some reports putting them at an hour and a half. Jeff Burnside, the U.S. Secret Service’s coordinator for the 2024 DNC, said both his agency and convention organizers would bring in additional resources today.

With an array of protests expected throughout the week, officials expressed confidence they can maintain order and protest First Amendment rights.

“I consider yesterday a success, given how things can turn bad in an instant,” Snelling said.

WTTW News reporter Jared Rutecki contributed to this report.

Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg


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