DNC protests devolve into farce
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
CHICAGO — They said tens of thousands of protesters would be here . They claimed they would “ shut down the DNC for Gaza .” Like the Chicago riots during the 1968 Democratic convention, their demonstrations would snarl the city, shake the party and doom the candidacy of “Genocide Joe.”
Then came Kamala Harris — and the protest fizzled.
Organizers anticipated there would be 30,000 to 40,000 protesters on hand for Monday’s kickoff. But only a few thousand showed up; police estimated 3,500. “There were more reporters than protesters,” observed Bennett Weiss.
As the smaller-than-expected group assembled in Union Park near the United Center, hundreds of signs reading “Victory to the Palestinian Resistance” were left stacked and unused. (They were the work of the “Freedom Road Socialist Organization.”)
The protesters had their street puppets and their giant bloody hands. They denounced “Killer Kamala” along with Genocide Joe. I heard nary a mention of Oct. 7 or Hamas’s hostages, but clarion calls for the destruction of Israel: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.”
A few hours later, we knew. Only 100 people attended a protest march on the DNC by the “Poor People’s Army,” and that was after they delayed the start by 90 minutes. With Green Party candidate Jill Stein in attendance, their announced intention was to make “citizen’s arrests” of Democrats attending the convention and to charge them with “crimes against humanity.”
Outside, a few dozen demonstrators broke off from the main group and, a couple of blocks from the arena, threw water bottles at police while taking down a few sections of the outer perimeter fence. Police quickly seized control without using tear gas, nobody was seriously injured, and police reported a grand total of 13 arrests for the day.
Heck, even Squad member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave a speech at the DNC hailing Harris for “working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.”
On cue, the fringe crazies came out at dusk, holding a protest outside the Israeli consulate. They hadn’t come to disrupt the DNC — the Democrats were holding their ceremonial roll call, unmolested, almost two miles away — but rather to get themselves arrested, and, if they were lucky, to get roughed up by the cops.
After my fruitless search for a protester, I visited a gathering of about 150 counterprotesters — a makeshift “Hostage Square” in a parking lot a mile from the arena organized by the Israeli American Council. Israeli flags flew, and exhibits and artwork honored the hostages taken by Hamas. Elan Carr denounced as “fringe crazies” the “haters you see out there, the people who burn American and Israeli flags.”
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CHICAGO — They said tens of thousands of protesters would be here . They claimed they would “ shut down the DNC for Gaza .” Like the Chicago riots during the 1968 Democratic convention, their demonstrations would snarl the city, shake the party and doom the candidacy of “Genocide Joe.”
Then came Kamala Harris — and the protest fizzled
Organizers anticipated there would be 30,000 to 40,000 protesters on hand for Monday’s kickoff. But only a few thousand showed up; police estimated 3,500. “There were more reporters than protesters,” observed Bennett Weiss.
Must be very hard to corral Democrats.
Must be very hard to corral Democrats.
Eventually, the police encircled them to clear them from the street, gradually leading them off in handcuffs as they resisted. As this happened, they shouted the slogan made famous by the protesters of ’68: “The whole world is watching!”
If the whole world was watching, they were seeing a once-powerful protest movement devolve into buffoonery.
I guess that band of Democrats was a bust.
But not as hard as herding cats:
I agree.
Although I wonder if they should be called "Democrats"? My guess is that most of them will not vote Democratic.
You can call them anything, but what they are in large part are Democrats.
So most of them won't vote.
As the smaller-than-expected group assembled in Union Park near the United Center, hundreds of signs reading “Victory to the Palestinian Resistance” were left stacked and unused.
The protesters had their street puppets and their giant bloody hands. They denounced “Killer Kamala” along with Genocide Joe.
I heard nary a mention of Oct. 7 or Hamas’s hostages, but clarion calls for the destruction of Israel: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. From the sea to the river, Palestine will live forever.”
A few hours later, we knew. Only 100 people attended a protest march on the DNC by the “Poor People’s Army,” and that was after they delayed the start by 90 minutes. With Green Party candidate Jill Stein in attendance, their announced intention was to make “citizen’s arrests” of Democrats attending the convention and to charge them with “crimes against humanity.”
Outside, a few dozen demonstrators broke off from the main group and, a couple of blocks from the arena, threw water bottles at police while taking down a few sections of the outer perimeter fence. Police quickly seized control without using tear gas, nobody was seriously injured, and police reported a grand total of 13 arrests for the day.
Heck, even Squad member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave a speech at the DNC hailing Harris for “working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bringing hostages home.”
It is pointless, nowadays, to try and launch large protests at political conventions and expect to achieve anything.
Very few protests result in anything worthwhile.
Some do, some don't.
The Civil Rights protests of the 60s were quite a sucess.
OTOH these Palestine protests will only result in the democrats at the convention getting pissed off at them for attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
So far it looks like this is going to be a very close election. And the main thing these protestors can actually accomplish is to distract from the message the Democrats are trying to put aross.
So its not surprising that the organizers of the convention have tried to do whatever they can to prevent a group from trying to distupt their convention ...
So what message do the Democrats have for us ordinary folk?
I could be wrong, but their message might be to vote for the Harris/Walz ticket.
protesting a war we don't control shouldn't interfere with "Orange Man Bad" messaging.
Or...the price of Caviar!!!
Protests against Democrats are a farce, protests agains Republicans are thoughtful.
Who knew?
The Democrats do.
(Obviously the "pro-Palestinians types" don't know).
Suggestion: Watch the Democratic convention!
(There's actually the possibility of "Getting Smarter There"
! ! !
For funniest line of the day: