CHICAGO — Due to a technicality, a group of demonstrators will be allowed just outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer, despite opposition from local and Democratic officials.
The Sun-Times reports the city failed to respond to a permit application within its own 10-day deadline and, on appeal, must now allow a group called the Poor People’s Army to protest at the DNC, scheduled for Aug. 19-22 at the United Center.
Chicago DNC 2024 preps media at United Center months before convention
Democratic delegates tour United Center ahead of 2024 DNC
According to the Sun-Times, the Poor People’s Army — a Philadelphia-based group that regularly protests at both Republican and Democratic conventions — forced the city on appeal Monday to grant a permit that will allow the group to march practically right up to the United Center doors.
For now, reports the Sun-Times, a ruling by an administrative judge allows the Poor People’s Army to march on Aug. 19 from Humboldt Park to “the public sidewalk in front of the United Center” on Madison Street, according to the application.
This will be the 12th DNC held in Chicago and the first since 1996, also at the United Center, when Bill Clinton was running for re-election.
The last DNC held in Chicago prior to that one, of course, produced some of the most gripping images in American history, when protestors clashed with Chicago Police Department officers along Michigan Avenue and in Grant Park, marking a lightning-rod moment in the 1960s era of Vietnam War protests.
The city is taking measures to ensure the 2024 DNC proceeds without incident, including reaching a “peace agreement” with union leaders that they would not strike during the convention.
However, Andy Thayer of the group Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws — which is planning its own protest at the DNC — told the Sun-Times the city’s “hardline response” to containing demonstrations during the convention “sets up the very chaos that they say they want to avoid.”
For its part, the Poor People’s Army, spokeswoman Cheri Honkala tells the Sun-Times, has no intent to recreate the events of 1968 at this summer’s DNC.
“We’ve organized the largest marches, and they’ve always been peaceful,” Honkala told the Sun-Times.
CHICAGO — Due to a technicality, a group of demonstrators will be allowed just outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer, despite opposition from local and Democratic officials.
The Sun-Times reports the city failed to respond to a permit application within its own 10-day deadline and, on appeal, must now allow a group called the Poor People’s Army to protest at the DNC, scheduled for Aug. 19-22 at the United Center.
Chicago DNC 2024 preps media at United Center months before convention Democratic delegates tour United Center ahead of 2024 DNC According to the Sun-Times, the Poor People’s Army — a Philadelphia-based group that regularly protests at both Republican and Democratic conventions — forced the city on appeal Monday to grant a permit that will allow the group to march practically right up to the United Center doors.
For now, reports the Sun-Times, a ruling by an administrative judge allows the Poor People’s Army to march on Aug. 19 from Humboldt Park to “the public sidewalk in front of the United Center” on Madison Street, according to the application.
This will be the 12th DNC held in Chicago and the first since 1996, also at the United Center, when Bill Clinton was running for re-election.
The last DNC held in Chicago prior to that one, of course, produced some of the most gripping images in American history, when protestors clashed with Chicago Police Department officers along Michigan Avenue and in Grant Park, marking a lightning-rod moment in the 1960s era of Vietnam War protests.
The city is taking measures to ensure the 2024 DNC proceeds without incident, including reaching a “peace agreement” with union leaders that they would not strike during the convention.
However, Andy Thayer of the group Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws — which is planning its own protest at the DNC — told the Sun-Times the city’s “hardline response” to containing demonstrations during the convention “sets up the very chaos that they say they want to avoid.”
For its part, the Poor People’s Army, spokeswoman Cheri Honkala tells the Sun-Times, has no intent to recreate the events of 1968 at this summer’s DNC.
“We’ve organized the largest marches, and they’ve always been peaceful,” Honkala told the Sun-Times.
https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/demonstrators-will-be-allowed-to-protest-outside-dnc-this-summer-due-to-technicality-by-the-city-report-says/