Protest group fights against permit restrictions during DNC in Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — A group planning to protest during the Democratic National Convention next week said the city is imposing “outrageous conditions” on the permits.

An emergency hearing was held by telephone on Thursday with US District Judge Andrea Wood on the issue of the protest permit. The hearing ended without a resolution – and the city now has until Friday noon to respond to the protesters' demands.

An in-person hearing is scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.

Meanwhile, some demonstrators gathered outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon to protest the city's decision to grant their requests for permits to protest during the DNC.

The group's protest permits were granted, but the group said the city imposed restrictions that they believed were an attempt to silence them.

“This is not about security or order, but about a substantive decision,” says Hatem Abudayyeh, co-founder of the US Palestinian Community Network. “And a substantive decision is illegal. For example, you can say, 'We don't want you to speak because of what you say. We don't want you to speak because you are going to speak about the liberation of Palestine.'”

The group said the permit allows them to use Park 578 and the field at Union Park, but the terms of the permit do not allow them to set up stages or platforms or use sound equipment, nor are they allowed to bring in portable toilets.

“And now the city of Chicago is trying to say, 'Oh, we're giving you your right to free speech, but without sound or a stage or anything like that. Shame is right,' said Gemini Gnull of the Climate Alliance of the South Sound. “That's like saying, 'Oh, you can breathe, but we won't give you air. You can drink, but we won't give you water.'”

The group said it was blindsided by the city and wanted to protest these conditions. Organizers said their attorney is also filing a temporary restraining order to stop the city from enforcing these restrictions.

“The city, the Democratic Party, no one in government is going to give us what we're asking for, what's fair and righteous – they're not going to do it on their own,” said Kobi Guillory of the Coalition to March on the DNC. “We have to apply pressure.”

Fight for protest permits

A judge will not compel the city of Chicago to change the protest route offered to demonstrators during the Democratic National Convention, despite Protesters demand a route closer to the United Center.

There was a continuing Fight for protest permitsThe Coalition to March on the DNC sued the city for violating their First Amendment right to protest. The protest groups have applied for permits to demonstrate as early as 2023.

On Tuesday, however, U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood ruled that the current route complies with the First Amendment.

The city had agreed that protesters should stay “within sight and hearing distance” of the United Center. City Hall has proposed a route that begins around Union Park and heads south on Ashland Avenue, west on Washington Boulevard, north on Hermitage Avenue, west on Maypole Avenue to 578 Park, where many speeches are expected — and then to Damen Avenue, north to Lake Street and east back to Union Park, where more speeches are planned.

The protest group is expecting tens of thousands of people from across the country. Buses are expected from Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as from Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio, protesters said.

The Coalition to March on the DNC has planned its first major protest for Monday at noon.