Chicago, IL – On the afternoon of Wednesday, August 14, five days before the Democratic National Convention, the city of Chicago slapped organizers of the Coalition to March on the DNC with permits saying they can assemble in Union Park on the condition that they have no sound amplification, stages, tents, or port-a-potties. This effectively denies them the ability to hold a rally.

Coalition members organized a press conference Thursday morning, a 100-person rally in the afternoon, and a national call-in to demand their right to rally on August 19 at Union Park.

“Again, the city of Chicago has blindsided us and restricted our rights,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the coalition, and national chair of one of its leading organizations, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN). “We don’t believe that any of the previous restrictions are content-based, but this one clearly is. Someone doesn’t want us to talk about Palestine, about Genocide Joe and Killer Kamala’s support of genocide, and this is an egregious violation of our rights.”

The Coalition urged people to call Chicago Chief Operating Officer John Roberson to demand that the city recognize their right to have a sound system and sanitation for their rally.

“The organizers have done everything they can to make sure people are safe at this march, and now we need the city to do that,” 33rd Ward Alderwoman Rossana Rodríguez said at a press conference outside City Hall on Thursday morning.

Other alderpersons, Julia Ramirez of the 12th Ward and Byron Sigcho-Lopez of the 25th, also spoke about the need for the city to stop obstructing the protest. They were joined by veteran organizers in the Black liberation and immigrant rights movements.

“This is not 1968. We don't have a ‘shoot to kill’ mayor,” said Cheryl Miller, health justice organizer of Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP). “I am calling on Mayor Johnson to not let the fears of the past cause the chaos he is trying to prevent,” Miller continued.

“We didn't come here to beg for anything,” Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) said at the end of the press conference. “We're demanding that they recognize our right to speak!”

100-plus people gathered outside City Hall on Thursday afternoon to make their demands again. Speakers included organizers from CAARPR, USPCN, Students for a Democratic Society, the Anti War Committee – Chicago, and others who have spent months organizing the marches on August 19 and 22. Organizers who had traveled from Minneapolis, Seattle and New Orleans also addressed the crowd.

Speakers affirmed that the march on August 19 would take place in spite of the city's attempts to silence protesters.

“With over 200 organizations in the coalition and thousands and thousands of people gearing up to march, we will march. And we will have our demands heard, no matter what the city or the U.S. government says!” said USPCN organizer Rania Salem.

During the rally, the coalition also had a call with a federal judge and the city's attorneys to address the injunction put forward by the Coalition against the city's restrictions on their free speech. The city has until noon on Friday to respond, after which there will be an in-person hearing at the Dirksen Federal courthouse at 2:30 p.m.

#ChicagoIL #MarchonDNC2024 #MarchontheDNC #MarchonDNC24 #Permit #DNC #feature

Saint Paul, MN – Local leaders of the Twin Cites peace and justice movement announced their planned march route here at a June 7 press conference. The massive demonstration on Sept. 1, 2008 will coincide with the Republican National Convention. A large map of the march route was displayed.

“We are here today to make a formal and public announcement of our plans for a massive rally and march against the war in Iraq,” said Jess Sundin of the twin cities-based Anti-wWr Committee and the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

“On that day, tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, from many different organizations and communities, will join together under the banner of the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War. We will demand: U.S. Out of Iraq now; money for human needs, not for war. We will say no to the Republican agenda and demand peace, justice and equality,” Sundin continued.

Anti-war leaders have put in applications for permits but city officials are dragging their feet. When pressed, a Saint Paul police official said groups like the Saint Paul Winter Carnival announce their parade routes long before they have permits. Local activists have decided to do the same. The route of the march has been set. And tens of thousands will follow it to the Xcel Center, the site of the Republican National Convention.

“We have a plan. It is a good plan. And we expect the city of St Paul to issue the requested permits,” said Marie Braun of the Twin Cites Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq and Women Against Military Madness.

Sundin stressed that the groundswell of interest in the protest made it necessary to announce concrete plans, stating, “We can not wait any longer. Groups from New York to North Carolina to Los Angeles are contacting us. They want to know what is planned and how they can get involved. Permits or not, we are organizing and mobilizing now, for a huge anti-war march on the Xcel Center on the first day of the Republican Convention.”

Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee announced that a poor people’s contingent would participate in the march: “On Sept. 1, 2008, low income people from all over the state and all over the country will be coming to protest the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. As low income people, we have serious needs in this country and we are outraged that this government spends billions to carry out occupations and war abroad, while they slash spending for basic human needs at home. We are also outraged that is us, poor and working folks, who are being sent to kill and be killed in this rich man’s war.”

Local anti-war organizations are at the forefront of this effort, including the Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Peace Campaign-Focus on Iraq and Women Against Military Madness. Anh Pham of the Anti-War Committee states, “We have already established our capacity to mobilize thousands here in Minnesota. Now we are being joined by groups around the country, including some of the main organizers of the May 1 immigrant rights demonstrations, national anti-war coalitions and students from colleges near and far. There is no doubt that tens of thousands will fill the streets of Saint Paul to protest at the RNC.”

#SaintPaulMN #StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #PoorPeoplesMovements #News #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #marchOnTheRNC #marchRoute #Iraq #permit