CNN
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Protective fencing has been up, street closures have begun, and local and federal law enforcement officials say Chicago is prepared as Democrats begin arriving in the city for the party convention.
The convention begins just five weeks after the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, survived an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a moment that raised concerns about security at the Democratic caucus in Chicago as well as the Republican convention. In Milwaukee last month.
On Thursday, Chicago Police Chief Larry Snelling told CNN that the assassination attempt “raised our awareness here” as law enforcement planned “for any eventuality.”
“Comparing Butler to a national special security event, you can't compare it,” Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Derek Meyer told reporters this week. “This is a whole-of-government approach — we've been planning this agreement for over a year.”
Also looming as Chicago prepared to hold the conference was the memory of 1968, when violent clashes broke out between law enforcement and demonstrators amid protests over U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.
Snelling said Chicago police “took corrective action about those past mistakes” — including efforts to prevent a repeat of 1968 in 2012, when Chicago hosted heads of government for a NATO summit.
“The difference between 1968 and now is that the department has evolved. The city has evolved. Through that evolution, we've gotten much better at handling these types of large-scale events,” Snelling said.
Most of the conference — including prime-time television speeches — will be held at the United Center, home of the NBA's Chicago Bulls and the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks, in the city's Near West Side neighborhood.
But other events will be held at McCormick Place, a massive convention center south of downtown.
The city also created two protest areas: Union Park, the larger of the two, located three blocks east of the United Center, and Park 578, just north of the United Center. Protesters also plan to use the one-mile route for a march that will take them within sight of DNC attendees.
A coalition of protest groups is fighting the city in court after city officials responded to permit requests Wednesday by prohibiting protesters from installing platforms, sound systems, portable toilets or tents in parks. Brian Gallardo, assistant commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, said in a letter that the city would provide a stage and sound system in the smaller park, and that allowing groups to bring their own would be “redundant.”
Protective fencing was erected around the United Center and McCormick Place earlier this week.
The street closures were scheduled to begin Friday and Saturday as the city prepares to host about 50,000 visitors — including NDP delegates, an international media team, dignitaries, elected officials and others.
“There will be traffic delays, but this is Chicago. We always have traffic delays in the city,” Snelling said.
It's the latest in a busy summer of festivals and conventions in Chicago — a stretch that has also included the Lollapalooza music festival and the NASCAR Chicago Street Race, and will accelerate in September when an expected 100,000 visitors attend the International Manufacturing Technology Expo.
Chicago police officers trained for a year with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to ensure the event venue would be safe with the promise that police resources would be present “in every neighborhood” throughout Chicago's 237 square miles, Snelling told reporters. .
“We are not going to drain resources from our neighborhoods to simply put them in the district where the Democratic National Convention is being held,” Snelling said.
He offered no assurances that police would not make arrests, but stressed that law enforcement officials intend to allow protesters to express their First Amendment rights.
He added: “We will protect them while they do this, but we will not guarantee anyone that we will not make arrests if they start behaving violently or committing crimes.”
