The second night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday night was starting to look like the 1968 Democratic convention.
A group calling itself Behind Enemy Lines initiated a protest outside the Israeli Consulate, in the Accenture Tower at 500 W. Madison St. in Chicago’s West Loop area. This location is approximately 1.75 miles directly east of the United Center, where a convention is currently in progress. The Accenture Tower is notable for its glass façade, practically made for violent clashes. True to their name, the rioters set American and Israeli flags on fire.
Anti-Israel and anti-American protesters burning the #American and Israeli flags outside the Israeli consulate in downtown Chicago. Live coverage on @NEWSMAX pic.twitter.com/M4G8GPKded
— John Huddy (@JohnHuddyTV) August 21, 2024
Tensions escalated as approximately 200 pro-Hamas protesters confronted a Chicago Police bicycle barricade outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago on Tuesday night, resulting in physical altercations. Despite their efforts, the protesters failed to breach the line, but the situation intensified nonetheless.
In response, hundreds of CPD officers donned riot gear complete with face shields and batons. They encircled the group, attempting to disperse the crowd and at times forcing them onto the sidewalk. The protesters, however, stood their ground, refusing to disband and engaging in a tense standoff with law enforcement. Some demonstrators were observed striking officers with wooden signs they had been carrying.
According to a representative from the National Lawyers Guild, police detained at least 67 individuals, among them two members of the press. The demonstrators, Hamas supporters, found themselves significantly outnumbered by law enforcement personnel at the diplomatic facility.
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters on the scene: “These officers did one hell of a job tonight keeping the city safe and keeping violent individuals from inflicting violence.”
Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling on protesters breaching a fence at the DNC: “We’re not going to tolerate anyone who are going to commit acts of violence.”
link in bio for more#DNC #protests #Chicago #politics pic.twitter.com/1MX8XXGGAK
— The National Desk (@TND) August 20, 2024
Behind Enemy Lines’s mission statement is 1,570 words long and very Unabomber in style, including this alarming passage:
“Rather than engage in routinized protests that threaten no one or begging the rulers for concessions, we envision a militant anti-imperialist movement that throws wrenches in the gears of the war machine, develops anti-imperialist consciousness far and wide, deprives the empire of loyal soldiers, and aims to stop new imperialist wars through mass resistance.”
And, of course:
“Perhaps most odious is the historic and ongoing US political, economic, and military support for the state of Israel (including a $3.3 billion US military aid package in 2020) and its ongoing settler-colonization, occupation, and dispossession of the Palestinian people. Back in the United States, the same guns and military equipment used to murder people overseas are sent to the police, who use them to gun down Black people, brutalize Indigenous Water Protectors at Standing Rock, and repress protest.”
Their website’s “Shut Down the DNC for Gaza” section includes this work of art:
USA Today reported: “As dozens of protesters chanted and banged on drums, surrounded by reporters, one participant set an American flag alight on the street and was briefly interrupted by a bystander who tried to retrieve it. ‘You guys are the enemy,’ he said to the masked protesters. ‘Don’t burn the American flag.’”
Ah, well.
Around 8 PM, the protesters departed from the vicinity of the consulate and proceeded down an adjacent street. During this movement, law enforcement officers apprehended several individuals while loudly commanding them to “Get out!”
One of those taken into custody was Sinna Nasseri, a photographer whose portfolio includes contributions to prestigious publications such as the New Yorker and New York Magazine.
