The ACLU of Illinois is warning that Chicago officials may be unprepared for protests that will likely take place around the Democratic National Convention in August, as the city has made little-to-no information public about its safety plans.
The group filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday on behalf of Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws after the city rejected the left-leaning activist group’s proposed protest route for the August 19 through 22 convention. The activists are looking to protest on the Magnificent Mile. The city countered their request with a plan to protest through Grant Park but activists argue the revised route would be too far away from the hotels where delegates and reporters will be staying.
The group wants to express its disappointment with the Democratic Party for having not pushed hard enough to protect the “reproductive rights of the LGBTQ community.” It plans to march whether the city approves its permit or not, leaders say.
“Political conventions have typically been the site of mass protests because they provide a singular occasion to send a message to the national parties and the national and international media,” says the lawsuit against the city of Chicago, Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Tom Carney and Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling. “Nonetheless, the City of Chicago has released no plans for accommodating large-scale protests during the Convention.”
The ACLU further alleges that when Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws appealed the city’s permit denial, city officials could not tell a judge about the number of police officers that would be required or available during the protests.
Furthermore, the city has not yet set a security perimeter around the main convention halls at the United Center and McCormick Place, a boundary that is expected to extend two blocks out from the convention center.
“Despite suggestions by some Chicago officials that the city is prepared for the Democratic National Convention, we are here today because they are not,” said ACLU of Illinois spokesman Ed Yohnka. “Sadly, the city has not created a clear, transparent plan for welcoming those who want to come to demonstrate and express themselves on the issues of our day.”
The lawsuit argues the city’s process for approving parade permits is unconstitutional and has led to the rejection of almost all of the permit requests the city has received thus far, according to the Chicago Sun Times, aside from a permit that was approved by default after the city failed to respond to the application within a 10-day deadline.
The Poor People’s Army was granted its permit to march on August 19 from Humboldt Park to the “public sidewalk in front of the United Center” on Madison Street.
The Coalition to March on the DNC filed its own emergency motion on Tuesday seeking to force Chicago to allow its members to march near the United Center, despite the city having previously rejected its parade permit application.