Thirteen people were arrested on Monday – many of which were pro-Palestine protesters who breached an outer security fence – near the Democratic National Convention.
Nearly 3,000 protesters marched the streets of Chicago, starting and ending in Union Park. Some marchers got into a standoff with police, who formed a barricade to block the breached fencing on the south end of Park 578 in the 1900 block of West Washington Street where four people were taken away.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said during a press conference Tuesday that those arrested face charges ranging from criminal trespass and resisting and obstructing an arrest to aggravated battery of police officers.
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Snelling claimed that protestors sprayed officers with pepper spray. He denied online reports that some officers were violent with protesters and said body cam footage as well as “other footage” will be released “as soon as possible.”
“Demonstrators breached a portion of anti-scale fencing along the Democratic National Convention’s outer perimeter near the United Center on Aug. 19,” Chicago Police Communications & News Affairs said in a statement posted to social media on Monday just before 7 p.m.
“Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation. At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees. The National Special Security Event plan employs a multi-layered approach. Each NSSE plan is unique and includes multiple layers. One of these redundancies include the outer perimeter fence, which was erected to prevent entry into the inner perimeter.”
“The Chicago Police Department remains on-scene and is working to clear the area,” the statement concluded.
Two people who were arrested appeared in front of a judge on Tuesday and released from custody. A 31-year-old Chicago man was charged with a felony count of aggravated battery to a police officer, the Chicago Tribune reports. He allegedly threw liquid at a police officer, hit him, and then threw a plastic bottle at the officer when the official attempted to re-secure the breached fence on Monday.
A Chicago woman, 35, was also charged with a misdemeanor for resisting arrest in connection with the breach and released from custody, according to the outlet.
A judge ordered both people to stay away from the United Center area for the rest of the DNC.
Some demonstrators tried to break through a second fence which would have allowed them access to the United Center. Police, some wearing gas masks and later, riot gear, quickly noticed people crawling through the first broken barrier and intervened.
Some protestors were unhappy with their actions being caught on camera and threw water bottles and signs at police. The DNC, where President Joe Biden delivered a keynote speech, was not disrupted.
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Additional fences at Washington Boulevard and Wood Street – two blocks from the United Center – went up Tuesday as the convention remains in The Windy City through Thursday.
Snelling claimed in Tuesday’s press conference that there was “absolutely not” a reason to change the PD’s strategy for further protests after Monday’s fence breach.
“We responded to that event with our officers who were properly trained to deal with the situation, and as a result of it, there was no serious breach that could have been worse had we not been prepared for that. So what we’ve been trained for worked.”
Monday’s event saw speeches from Biden, U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Hillary Clinton, and NBA coach Steve Kerr. Former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker are expected to speak on Tuesday.
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