A small group of protesters broke through a metal security fence outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday and engaged in a short confrontation with police after entering a no man’s land area behind another layer of fencing surrounding the United Center. Several demonstrators were detained.
The breach occurred in the late afternoon as thousands of activists protesting the Biden-Harris administration’s policy on the Israel-Hamas war ended their march at a park a block away from the United Center’s main entrance.
The incident was a rare moment of conflict during a day of impassioned but mostly peaceful protest on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.
Before the televised program began and Democratic speakers took the stage, a faction of protesters wearing masks and balaclavas broke away from the main group and breached the security perimeter fence.
“Whose streets?” they chanted. “Our streets!”
Police officers, some wearing riot helmets and carrying batons, swiftly marched into the area. As protesters linked arms, some hurled wooden signs at police as officers pushed the crowd back outside the fence and started to detain some protesters.
“Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation,” the DNC Public Safety Joint Information Center said in a statement. “At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees.”
The incursion appeared to be under control by 6 p.m. After police pushed protesters back outside, Chicago police hammered the fence back in place.
Several demonstrators were detained, but authorities did not immediately provide arrest information.
Just outside the security barrier by a park along Washington Boulevard, police detained one woman with her hands behind her back.
“Mom!” A child yelled from the other side of the fence. “Are you OK?”
Dozens of police in riot gear, carrying plastic shields, milled about in the street just outside the park.
Several splintered sticks and signs saying, “From Chicago to Palestine, occupation is a crime!” littered the ground near the barricade. An “Asian Americans for a liberated Palestine” flag was left draped over a metal pole.
Pinho reported from Chicago and Jarvie from Atlanta.
