CHICAGO—A pro-Palestinian protest outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago led to violent clashes and arrests on the evening of Aug. 20., day two of the Democratic National Convention (DNC).
The demonstration, organized by the goup Behind Enemy Lines, marks a non-permitted escalation in the conflict between mainstream Democrats and pro-Palestinian activists. The latter object to the Biden-Harris administration’s support for Israel’s war against Hamas.
In the hours leading up to the first outbreak of violence, hundreds of protestors had gathered near downtown Chicago outside Accenture Tower, the home of the Israeli consulate. Chants of “intifada,” an Arabic word for rebellion or uprising, were heard among the crowd. Another chant, “The whole world is watching!” deliberately recalled the 1968 Democratic National Convention, also held in Chicago.
Many at the Aug. 20 protest wore keffiyehs, masks, or other face coverings. A man in a helmet and goggles looked ready for the struggle.
Other protesters included a group of anti-Zionist Jews, including Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss of Jews United Against Zionism.
“We as Jews are forbidden to reestablish a Jewish homeland, a Jewish sovereignty, since the destruction of the Temple,” he told The Epoch Times.
Jared Houston, of the Freedom Socialist Party, told The Epoch Times the police struck him as a bigger concern than protessters.
Around 8:30 p.m. ET, a crowd of demonstrators backed a line of reporters to a wall of police at the corner of Madison Street and Clinton Street.
Protesters and law enforcement tangled; bodies hit the pavement, and The Epoch Times witnessed some protesters being quickly detained.
Once the crowd was pushed back, the Chicago Police Department established a security perimeter.
Around a half hour after the initial outbreak of violence, police officers ordered the crowd to disperse.
While this gave police the power to break up the assembly, the declaration followed a long standoff. A group of remaining protesters stood on Madison between two lines of police. Behind one of the police lines, pro-Israel demonstrators held up a Star of David flag. A police representative ordered reporters to back up off the street.
Begining around 9 p.m. ET, a group of protestors tried to move through various routes to get closer to the United Center, where the convention was underway.
“Keep it tight,” one protestor said as the crowd maneuvered through the streets of Chicago.
While they may have intended to reach the United Center, located further west on Madison, they mostly wound around the streets south and east of the Israeli Consulate.
At one point, a cabbie got caught up in the chaos.
Other protestors stayed behind at the Israeli consulate to continue demonstrations there.
As protesters were being handcuffed near a paddy wagon, law enforcement indicated that only “green hats”—members of the progressive National Lawyers Guild, on hand to observe police conduct during left-wing demonstrations—could cross a police line. Then Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling led the pushback of journalists and remaining demonstrators on the sidewalk.
The mobile group stopped at the corner of West Adams Street and South Clinton Street, still several blocks from the United Center. Another police blockade assembled. After a final push south past Union Station, leading to at least one more arrest witnessed by The Epoch Times, the protest’s numbers had really thinned out. Near Van Buren and Clinton, Chicago police and Illinois State Police had formed lines perpendicular to each other.
