As Chicago braces for Democratic National Convention, concerns over safety mount

With more than 50,000 people estimated to descend on Chicago next week for the Democratic National Convention, the city said it is prepared to make sure the week is a success, not just for visitors, but for city residents themselves.

"Our plan is to make sure we keep everyone within the city safe. We want this to be successful," Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told an audience at the City Club of Chicago.

While thousands of protestors are expected in Chicago, Snelling said the city is better prepared than it was in 2020, when street protests following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis led to arsons, looting, and rioting downtown.

Officers and police leadership have been engaged in extra training for more than a year to prepare for civil disobedience, he said. Hundreds of extra law enforcement from across the state will also be on hand, not just to strengthen security around the United Center on Chicago's west side, but also to make sure 50 neighborhoods in the city are protected.

"We have a city to protect. The Chicago Police Department will be in every single neighborhood protecting the neighborhoods so we will not deplete resources from our neighborhoods," he said.

Still, concerns remain among downtown business owners, some of which are boarding up office spaces and storefronts out of fear the convention will ignite looting sprees like those that spread throughout the business district during the 2020 summer.

"This city has a poor track record when it comes to protecting businesses," Scott Shapiro, owner of menswear shop Syd Jerome, told ABC News affiliate WLS.

Meanwhile, activists have been battling the city of Chicago in federal court over permitting rights. The Coalition to March on the DNC, which represents 200 social justice organizations from throughout the Midwest, filed for permits in 2023, however, they sued the city for violating its First Amendment right to protest.

While permits for the coalition are approved, the organization said the city, citing safety reasons, is unfairly restricting them by preventing the organization from constructing stages, connecting sound equipment and having portable toilets at Union Park.

During an emergency hearing on Friday, however, the city agreed to allow for the stage and speaker system for both rallies. U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood also ruled last week that activists must follow a protest route outlined by the city which is shorter and a further distance from the United Center.

The first of two major protests next week starts at noon on Monday in Union Park, located about four blocks from the United Center. Buses arriving early Monday will bring "tens of thousands of people" from Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana to march, said Coalition spokesperson Hatem Abudayyeh. The coalition's second march is 5 p.m. on Thursday.

A third march, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, and approved by the city, is sponsored by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine, a local organization representing Chicago area Muslim groups and mosques.

Abudayyeh said the coalition's route, which stretches 2.4 miles, is safer because its length will accommodate the massive turnout of people expected to march whereas the city's approved route, which stretches 1.1 miles, includes two sharp turns that will create bottlenecks which Abudayyeh said will leave people standing for up to 90 minutes. The standstill, Abudayyeh said, will encourage people to wander off the route and be subject to arrests.

"Our argument is, why does the city want to take a chance for that to happen?" he asked. He said his organization has years of experience designing protest marches that are safely executed and include trained security and legal observers.

Monday's march will represent "the broadest and biggest march for Palestinian rights in the city of Chicago. That's why we have the slogan 'We keep us safe.' We don't need anyone else to do that. The only role and responsibility of the police and the feds is to not infringe on our First Amendment constitutional rights," he said.

Snelling said his department is "prepared" for a quagmire should there be bottlenecks in the approved route.

"We have to be fluid. Things are ever-evolving, and we will make necessary adjustments to accommodate that," he said. The scenario presented by the coalition is "not something I'm really worried about now. We knew didn't want to tie up additional resources to prolong a protest of that nature. But we'll make sure … we will protect them, and we will protect the neighbors."

Another pressing issue for the city is neighborhood violence, which could spill into areas where delegates are staying or visiting — and it could also spill into the headlines, which for the Democratic Party, could tarnish the positive message of the convention.

Over the Fourth of July weekend, more than 100 people were shot in Chicago, with 19 people killed, according to police.

Snelling, who previously served as the department's counterterrorism director and who led field force training for the 2012 Chicago NATO Summit, said the city has remained calm during recent summer events -- Lollapalooza, the Chicago Air and Water Show and the Bud Billiken Parade on the South Side -- were enjoyed by thousands of Chicagoans with minimal disruption, he said.

"That tells where we're deploying our people has been helpful," he said. "We're ready to go."