Protest movements, including sit-ins, rallies, and yes, even verbal confrontations, have been a part of American society since America’s founding. Free speech is one of the country’s founding principles.
But as President Joe Biden said this spring, as protests against the Gaza war spread to college campuses: “Dissent is essential to democracy. But dissent must never lead to unrest.”
That was also the case at the Democratic National Convention – large protests with minimal unrest – until Tuesday evening. Then Chicago police arrested dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters outside the Israeli consulate after some members of the group became violent, causing property damage and “physically assaulting and attacking” officers, police said.
Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling explicitly defended his officers, saying the department had “done everything it could to de-escalate the situation.”
Let’s just say that if you march straight into a line of police officers, as police say they did to protesters, then refuse to disperse and are obviously looking to cause trouble – you can expect to be arrested. Maybe that’s exactly what you want, to make a statement.
And as long as the arresting officers follow the rules, they are not “thugs” denying people their right to free speech, as one organizer of the group claimed. In this case, the police were doing their job, which was to protect the public and our city.
Chicagoans do not want a resurrection of the ghosts of the 1968 convention. In fact, Snelling said on Wednesday: “Let’s stop talking about 1968. It’s 2024.”
Exercising freedom of expression without violence
Fortunately, most of the protests and demonstrations against the Gaza war during this week’s DNC were peaceful until chaos erupted on Tuesday. And on Wednesday, pro-Palestinian protesters marched peacefully from Union Park to the United Center just as the evening events were about to begin.
Tensions briefly flared Monday morning when dozens of people got into a standoff with police after breaching an outer security perimeter near the United Center, where the DNC is taking place.
But things got even more tense on Tuesday when members of a group called “Behind Enemy Lines” ran straight into a line of police near the Ogilvie Transportation Center, where demonstrators had gathered during their protest outside the Israeli consulate.
Behind Enemy Lines did not “shut down” the DNC as they said they would (which was clearly a red flag for police and anyone else involved with the DNC). Instead, the group ended up sparking mass arrests by police officers attempting to contain the violence at the scene.
The DNC meeting doesn’t end until Thursday evening. We hope there won’t be any more confrontations like Tuesday.
One of the four young men in Union Park told a Sun-Times reporter about a Chicago police chief he and his friends had spoken to: “We approached him and he was friendly. We just want a peaceful protest and we know they have a job to do.”
It is important to note that Behind the Enemy Lines did not have permission for the protest and the group has no connection with the organizers of the much larger and largely peaceful pro-Palestinian march on Monday.
Snelling emphasized this after the brief incident on Monday in front of the United Center: “I will not associate the group that stayed behind and broke through the fence with their planned protest. There were peaceful people in the crowd. There were people who just wanted to make their voices heard.”
Think back to our history: If people had not raised their voices and denounced the status quo and injustice, much-needed reforms such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the end of the Vietnam War may never have happened.
Protesters who have taken to the streets specifically for the Democratic National Convention have the same right to make their voices heard – without the added noise and disruption to the entire city from people seeking attention in other and worse ways.
The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and opinion pieces. Read our guidelines.
Send letters to [email protected]
Get opinion pieces in your inbox. Sign up for our Weekly newsletter here.
More about the Sun-Times editorial staff at chicago.suntimes.com/about/editorial-board
