How an activist turned Chicago mayor is handling DNC protests
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march downtown in October 2023. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images
When activists launch massive protests outside the Democratic National Convention next week, they'll face a very different mayor than 1968 DNC protesters did.
Why it matters: Unlike Mayor Richard J. Daley, Mayor Brandon Johnson has more experience marching with protesters than trying to contain them.
- But hosting the DNC is forcing Johnson and his staff to strike a delicate balance between embracing protests and controlling them.
What they're saying: "Mayor Johnson wouldn't be where he is today without protests," his chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas said recently. "And as the child of two organizers, I went to protests before I was in school, so we understand the power for protests.
- "But if it gets out of line, there will be some provisions in place to address it."
Driving the news: The coalition planning a massive march, largely to protest U.S. funding for the war in Gaza, has been fighting with the city for months over permits.
Catch up quick: In the face of a federal lawsuit, the city in June granted permission for the Coalition to March on the DNC to protest within sight and sound of the United Center, where the primetime speeches will take place.
- But protesters contend that the 1.1-mile route along some side streets is insufficient for the tens of thousands expected.
The latest: This week, District Court Judge Andrea Wood rejected the coalition's request for a 2.4-mile route on main thoroughfares.
- "We are understandably angry," Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the coalition, said in a statement. "But either way it is our duty to march on the war makers and that's what we'll do."
Yes, but: "The community loves the mayor," Abudayyeh tells Axios. "They recognize he stepped up amidst a lot of racist attacks [to cast the deciding vote] making Chicago the largest city in the country that has passed a ceasefire resolution."
- "But city attorneys have not negotiated with us in good faith."
Between the lines: Pacione Zayas says the formal permitting process, as well as the regular pro-Palestinian protests over the last few months, "allows us to easily see who is coming here to protest and who is coming here to really create chaos and vandalize."
- Abudayyeh says his group has "a robust committee of marshals who are professionally trained as de-escalators."
The intrigue: When the coalition marched at the Republican National Convention last month, Abudayyeh estimates only about 4,500 showed up, because "Republicans are not in power."
- "If Republicans had the presidency, then the event of the season would have been at the RNC in Milwaukee," he says. "But the event of the season will be in Chicago on August 19, because it's the Democrats who need to be held accountable for this."
What's next: Judge Wood has set another status hearing for the case on Thursday, and Abudayyeh says he remains hopeful continued negotiations will get them closer to "the permits and the route that we need."