Chicago officials are under fire after their last-minute restrictions on the Democratic National Convention protests, calling the limits on sound equipment and other essential tools a direct attack on free speech rights.
The City of Chicago informed organizers of the pro-Palestinian rights group the Coalition while they are permitted to assemble and march with the tens of thousands expected to protest next week, the city has limited their ability to communicate their message about ending U.S. aid for Israel.
The Coalition is a pro-Palestinian group that highlights several issues within the Democratic Party, including financing the conflict in Palestine and wars in other countries, contributing to the mass incarceration of Black and brown individuals and deporting millions of immigrants
The spokesperson for the Coalition and National Chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network said this is a targeted attack on the group’s First Amendment Rights.
“Someone doesn’t want us to talk about Palestine, about ‘Genocide Joe’ and ‘Killer Kamala’,” Hatem Abudayyeh said in a conference on Friday morning. “We stand with Palestine. Democrats are complicit in the Israel killing of 40,000 Palestinians. Biden and Harris have the power to stop it and they haven’t.”
Alex Wroblewski for The Washington Post/Getty Images
According to a letter sent to the Coalition on Wednesday, the city has placed conditions prohibiting the use of stages, platforms, portable restrooms, tents, canopies, and, most critically, sound equipment during rallies scheduled between August 19 and 22 at Union Park.
“These restrictions, particularly the ban on sound equipment, are a blatant attempt to silence dissenting voices,” Abudayyeh said. “This is not about safety; it’s about stifling our message, especially our criticism of U.S. support for Israel and the Biden administration’s role in the ongoing violence in Gaza.”
The Coalition said the city’s restrictions are inconsistent with its treatment of other events in public spaces. They said Union Park routinely hosts concerts and other events where stages, sound equipment, and portable facilities are allowed without issue.
Coalition attorney Chris Williams has filed a court order to prevent the city from enforcing these restrictions. The Coalition will argue at a 1:30 p.m. hearing today the restrictions are unconstitutional and should be lifted immediately.
Newsweek reached out to the Coalition for a statement from Williams, but they have not yet responded.
March on DNC
Chicago has defended the restrictions by citing safety concerns and the need to manage multiple groups seeking to protest during the DNC. However, Coalition leaders reject this explanation, stating the permit process already defines specific times and spaces for each group’s activities.
“When you’re at a protest – there’s beauty in it, there’s community in it, there’s amazing messaging,” the March on DNC said. “The city is taking away the beauty of the protest, the beauty of community, the beauty of having a program, of having great leaders to organize us.”
“Give us our right to speak, we demand it! Government has no right to take it away from us,” another member said at the conference.
In response, the Coalition will have a protest at 4 p.m.
The March on the DNC, backed by 223 organizations from 21 states, plans to hold two demonstrations during the four-day event – one on the first day of the convention and another on the last. They will gather at Union Park at noon on Monday and again at 5 p.m. on Thursday at the same location.
The Poor People’s Army
This is not the only organization addressing the city’s permit dispute. The Poor People’s Army led by founders Cheri Honkala and Galen Tyler are speaking out about the issue.
In a press release, the organization said Chicago city officials are pressuring them to avoid the DNC. However, they plan to proceed with their scheduled march.
Poor People’s Army
Honkala told Newsweek, “They [the city] neglected to get back to us regarding our permit request in a timely fashion so they were forced to issue us a permit. We are going forward with our original permit request that has been published on our website and distributed across the country.”
The group aims to draw attention to the crisis of homelessness, poverty, and hunger in the U.S. and worldwide, highlighted by recent events such as the Johnson v. Grants Pass Supreme Court decision and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
They are currently on Day 13 of a 90-mile march from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to the DNC in Chicago; the organization has established an encampment at Humboldt Park starting August 17 to stand in solidarity with the homeless.
The organization is preparing to march from Humboldt Park to the United Center, starting at 4 p.m. on August 19, the first day of the convention.
In the lead-up to the DNC, the group will hold daily press conferences – Friday, August 16, at 1 p.m. at the Haymarket Publishing House, and from Saturday, August 17, to Monday, August 19, at Humboldt Park at 1 p.m.
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