Protests at the DNC: Chicago’s History of Surveilling and Arresting Protesters
Originally published in Teen Vogue for my Black Canary column.
This year’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee saw relatively muted protests. Only about 1,000 to 3,000 people turned up to demonstrate against Donald Trump and the GOP, according to estimates from the police and protest organizers, respectively.
But a much larger presence is expected at August’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which Coalition to March on the DNC organizer Hatem Abudayyeh called “the main event of the season.” For months leading up to the DNC, local organizations have laid the groundwork for a week of actions during the convention, motivated by anger over the Democratic Party’s support for military aid to Israel. Given the historical parallels with the infamous 1968 convention in the same city, which saw protesters violently beaten by police, tensions are heightened as the DNC draws closer.
While Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling says the department is taking precautions to protect people’s freedom of speech, the department has a turbulent history of surveilling and targeting protesters.
Over the past decade, we’ve seen far too many examples of mass protests being met with police repression, including kettling, mass arrests, and the use of crowd control ammunition.
So here’s what you need to know If you’re planning on protesting the DNC, and information to keep in mind if you’re watching from home.
All convention protests are considered to be “National Special Security Events”
Under the leadership of the Secret Service, Democratic and Republican conventions are considered a National Special Security Event (NSSE). Any international or domestic event deemed to be a possible target for terrorist activity can be labeled an NSSE by the Department of Homeland Security. “NSSEs are always opportunities for the State to enforce aggressive security practices and to sideline free expression, protest, and First Amendment-protected activities,” Molly Armour, an attorney with Chicago’s National Lawyers Guild, told Teen Vogue. During the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit that took place in the city in 2012, Amour says her clients were “disappeared” in Chicago’s jail system and placed in Homan Square, a formerly secret warehouse used for interrogations.
Snelling, the police superintendent, told reporters that they were working to ensure that the response to DNC protests is “rooted in constitutional policing.” Officers took First Amendment training to learn lessons from the NATO 2012 summit. But, Snelling added, “we're also training our officers to respond when they see these levels of violence, when they see vandalism, when they see physical attacks on others." Some criminal justice advocates worry that this leeway could be used to criminalize large groups of mostly peaceful protesters. In a report about the Chicago police department’s plans for the DNC, the Office of the Executive Inspector General, which acts a watchdog over Chicago’s public officials, expressed concerns that the police may generalize “mass event participants’ capacity for violence,” blurring distinctions between legal and illegal acts.
In preparation for the conference, local organizers have held “anti-surveillance” and “Know Your Rights” trainings for community members. As Asia Smith, a local organizer, told Block Club Chicago, “We wanted to create a comprehensive training for folks to be able to come and learn about the surveillance that the DNC is bringing and how they can potentially mitigate the harm.”
The Secret Service has announced its public security plan, indicating the two security two perimeters that they will establish around the convention. The sidewalks and roads immediately surrounding the United Center convention space are restricted to pedestrians with tickets or other relevant credentials. The three-block area surrounding this zone must pass through a vehicle screen perimeter to enter. s. Additional law enforcement will patrol nearby neighborhoods surrounding that central zone, according to the plan.
Extra policing only puts communities, especially the Black and Brown communities at risk of police encounters. In Milwaukee during the 2024 RNC, a Black man named Samuel Sharpe was killed by a visiting police officer who was assisting with security for the convention. (Chicago police said out-of-town police won’t be patrolling local neighborhoods.)
Chicago has designated a special courthouse to streamline potential DNC arrestees
In preparation for possible mass arrests, Chicago has dedicated a courtroom which will be open for extended hours 8am to midnight to process those arrested during protests. Those arrested will go through the Area 3 police station at Belmont and Western avenues on the Northwest Side. The facility can hold up to 90 people in custody at once.
Chicago’s National Lawyers Guild has a hotline for people planning to attend DNC protests that will offer information on knowing your rights and legal help.
For more information, you can check out the NLG website, and for the hotline call (872)4NL-GCHI or (872) 465-4244.
Police tend to hang onto new equipment long after conventions are over
In preparation for the 2020 DNC, Milwaukee police purchased new equipment and monitoring systems. The convention was forced to go virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Milwaukee police department still kept the new equipment. According to a recent report in the Wisconsin Examiner, the Milwaukee police and Milwaukee Fusion Center expanded their surveillance apparatus by using their new technology to track cell locations and better access public safety cameras. Per the Examiner, law enforcement also obtained updated license plate readers and additional surveillance equipment such as unmarked vans with a drone landing pad that were purchased for the convention, but were reportedly used during the 2020 racial justice protests.
In past conventions, law enforcement agencies have been accused of surveillance and the use of subterfuge
Documents leaked by former National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was monitoring protesters at the RNC and DNC in 2004. Following the 2008 RNC in St. Paul, organizer-turned-FBI informant Brandon Darby helped secure the convictions of protesters Bradley Crowder and David McKay, who were charged with domestic terrorism. Crowder and McKay claimed publicly that they were entrapped, alleging that Darby encouraged them to make Molotov cocktails to deploy at the RNC. (McKay ultimately plead guilty to possession and manufacture of a firearm, and a Texas judge found that he obstructed justice by “falsely accusing” Darby of entrapment).
In Chicago, police have a history of surveilling protesters. Up until 2009, the department was under a consent decree for unlawful spying on citizens. Yet two years after the decree was lifted, Chicago police were again found to be conducting surveillance of protests. According to a report from the Chicago Reader, officers conducted undercover “First Amendment-related investigations” — a form of surveillance that requires high-level approval — for the 2011 Occupy Chicago encampment and the NATO summit the following year.
That operation resulted in felony terrorism charges for out-of-town activists Brian Jacob Church, Jared Chase, and Brent Betterly, who became known as the NATO 3. In an effort to build a case against the three, Chicago police officers Nadia Chikko and Mehmet Uygun secretly recorded their conversations with the defendants, and used the recordings as evidence that they were allegedly plotting to commit terrorism at the NATO summit. At trial, lawyers for the defense claimed that Church, Chase and Betterly were inebriated during the recordings, and that it was the undercover officers “repeatedly steered the conversation to violence.” In one of the secret recordings Chikko asks, “you guys got anything? Should we make some? You got bottles,” referring to making Molotov cocktails, which can be used as incendiary devices. Ultimately, the counts of terrorism were dropped, and the three were found guilty of lesser charges of “mob action” and arson-related felonies.
Chicago police have also been violent towards protesters
Chicago has a history of using force against protesters, perhaps most infamously the last time the DNC was held there, in 1968. After the summer 2020 protests, a dozen police officers were suspended and the city’s Inspector General’s office released a scathing report of the police's response to demonstrations concluding that, “the events of May and June 2020 may
have set CPD and the City back significantly in their long-running, deeply challenged effort to
foster trust with members of the community.”
More recently The Coalition for Peace in Palestine made a compilation video of Chicago police “not allowing protestors to march or protest.” The video shows officers using excessive force during arrests.
While the department touts their First Amendment rights policing training, the National Lawyers Guild’s Armour remains skeptical, noting that the department was placed under another consent decree after the 2014 killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. “I think the [their] history of non-compliance with regulations speaks for itself. There's a reason why there’s a consent decree. We always have hope things can change but I think history speaks for itself.” Armour went on to say that, “training is often put forth as a balm that can fix these inherent culture issues of real entrenchment against the communities that Chicago Police are supposed to serve. These training sessions have not and cannot change core behaviors.”
Repression is used as a deterrent to dissent. Take necessary precautions, but don’t let it be
As I wrote in 2020, even the most peaceful events can be met with police repression and arrests. Anyone planning to engage in political protest should understand the risks and the likelihood that they could be surveilled. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t engage in public dissent. It is in these spaces of protest where community can be built and collective power that isn’t dependent on a single political party can grow.