DOWNTOWN — Three social justice groups are suing the city in federal court to protest closer to the Democratic National Convention this August.
The lawsuit comes after the Anti-War Committee Chicago, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Students for a Democratic Society were denied protest routes around the United Center, where the DNC will be held.
The groups are part of the March on the DNC Coalition, a network of organizations fighting for the rights of oppressed people.
“We believe that the rejection of our permit applications violates our First Amendment and constitutional rights,” Hatem Abudayyeh, national chair for the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said at a news conference Friday.
City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All three groups applied to demonstrate during the Aug. 19-22 convention and outlined different planned routes and attendance levels. The city denied all three applications, and each group was given the same alternative parade route more than 3 miles away from the United Center.
Two of the organizations fought the city in administrative court last week, arguing the alternative route provided by the city is too far away from the convention. But a judge denied the appeals, saying it will not have enough resources to manage the groups’ proposed routes.
“The First Amendment is not important when everybody agrees, but it’s critical when there are disagreements,” said Chris Williams, an attorney representing the three groups. “President Joe Biden said he wants to protect democracy. The first step he can take is let people speak. Let people engage in peaceful political speech. Let them march and speak to the delegates at the Democratic National Convention.”
The groups plan to use their protests to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, where more than 30,000 Palestinians, a majority women and children, have been killed during the war between Hamas and Israel, according to NBC News.
“The whole world will be watching … because tens of thousands of protesters … will be here with us to condemn the Democratic Party and its leader, genocide Joe Biden, for their complicity in criminal apartheid, Israel’s killing of over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” Abudayyeh said.
Original Protest Routes
Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression members wanted their march to start Aug. 19 in Union Park and end at a small park near the United Center at the corner of Wolcott Avenue and Washington Boulevard, according to the group’s application. The group’s application was submitted in November and was denied in January.
The Students for a Democratic Society at UIC march would be Aug. 19. They applied for a permit to protest at Union Park and head west on Washington Boulevard to Western Avenue, south to Jackson Boulevard and east to Ashland Avenue before returning to the park.
An Aug. 22 demonstration proposed by Anti-War Committee Chicago would start at Addams Medill Park and travel along Ashland Avenue, Adams Street, Damen Avenue and Roosevelt Road, before returning to the park.
Anti-War Committee Chicago and the Democratic Society at UIC filed their permit requests in late February.
The alternative route proposed by the city starts more than 3 miles away at the southern end of Grant Park, at the corner of Columbus Drive and Roosevelt Road, and goes north on Columbus, ending at Jackson Boulevard.
During an appeal hearing last week, an attorney representing both groups argued the proposed alternative route is insufficient because it lacks “comparable public visibility, and a similar route, location and date to that of the proposed public assembly,” as required by municipal code. The attorney also argued city officials didn’t do an effective enough review before denying the groups’ applications.
Thousands of officers will already be assigned to the convention, and the Police Department can’t cover that and the protests, the city’s representatives argued.
The alternative protest route proposed by the city would require significantly fewer officers and would not block a major emergency vehicle route to the Illinois Medical District, Officer Gabriella Shemash, deputy chief of police area 3, said during her testimony at the appeal hearing.
Shemash could not say how many officers would be required for either of the protest routes.
Additionally, the Police Department and city’s transportation department could not recommend an alternative route closer to the United Center because the Secret Service has not yet revealed the convention’s “footprint,” which is meant to be fenced off and only accessible to convention participants, Shemash said.
“We don’t know exactly where the security perimeter will end. So, therefore, I can’t say that any street around the United Center will or will not be available for either pedestrian or vehicle traffic,” Shemash said.
Joe Biesk, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, previously told Block Club federal officials have been communicating with city departments about the convention. He confirmed the safety plans were still in development and not public.
Upcoming Court Battle
In their federal lawsuit, the groups lodged two main complaints against the city.
First, the groups argue the city’s ordinance that dictates permits for parades is unconstitutional because it allows city leaders to deny parade permits if the applications are considered “duplicates” and have similar members in common.
Second, the groups argue the alternative route provided by the city denies the groups the constitutional right to protest within sight and sound of the convention.
Williams said the groups will also seek a preliminary injunction to stop the city from enforcing the parade ordinance while the case plays out in court.
Chicago has a long history of protests targeting major events, like the DNC and the 2012 NATO Summit.
Violent clashes famously erupted between protesters and police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
In 1996, Mayor Richard M. Daley tried to avoid a repeat of the 1968 disaster by creating a “protest lottery,” according to The New York Times.
Winners of the lottery would be awarded one-hour slots to demonstrate at approved sites by the city, which included a fenced-in parking lot at the United Center and an area at the corner of South Michigan Avenue and East Balbo Drive. The city also planned to close “10 streets and restrict access to a several-block area around United Center to all but credentialed delegates, media, guests and police officers,” according to a 1996 article from the Tribune.
Several groups took the city to court over the lottery system about a week before the convention. The groups argued the restrictions infringed on their First Amendment rights and attempted to win court approval to get closer access to the United Center’s entrance.
U.S. District Senior Judge James B. Moran ruled in favor of the protestors. The ruling allowed up to 20 demonstrators near the United Center entrance so they could pass out leaflets. The ruling also allowed marches to happen at the United Center with the rule that they must disband within a block of the convention’s security perimeter.
Still, the restrictions largely kept protestors away from the main action around the United Center and proved to be a scheduling disaster, as those who did use the provided “protest lottery” were often delayed or missed their slots entirely, the Tribune reported.
Joe Iosbaker, a member of the Coalition to March on the DNC who protested during the 1996 convention, previously told Block Club the groups would not accept “protest pits” as an alternative to a march.
The groups also plan to march with or without a permit.
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