DNC host Chicago, haunted by 1968 convention rioting, braces for bloodshed

Federal, state and local authorities are hoping to keep Chicago violence to a minimum during the 2024 Democratic National Convention this week.

The Chicago Police Department, the Secret Service and other agencies have been planning the operation for months and delivering public updates on the measures they are taking to prevent planned demonstrations from devolving – which they've done before.

"Oftentimes, it is forgotten that there was a Democratic Convention between 1968 and now," Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters last week. "It was a success."

He was speaking of Bill Clinton's second nomination in 1996. Chicago has hosted more major party political conventions than any other city – 14 Republican conventions and 11 Democratic ones between 1860 and 1996, according to the Chicago History Museum. But 1968, marred by large-scale protests against the Vietnam War, stands out as the most infamous political convention in U.S. history.

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This year, the first anti-Israel demonstration is scheduled for noon Monday at Union Park, a few blocks east of the United Center.

In 1968, anti-Vietnam War protesters clashed with police and National Guardsmen outside the convention that nominated Vice President Hubert Humphrey in his unsuccessful campaign against Richard Nixon. Like Vice President Kamala Harris now, Humphrey assumed the mantle of presidential nominee without winning support in the normal primary process.

The unpopular war and resulting draft were weighing heavily on the minds of many American voters – who were still reeling from a pair of assassinations earlier that year – the murders of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. 

"[It's] almost like you can change the issues and layer the events on top of each other," one law enforcement source told Fox News Digital.

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This year, organizers behind March on the DNC 2024 are demanding an end of U.S. support for Israel, legal status for 12 million illegal immigrants and abortion protections, among other left-wing items, as they pledge to rally at the start and end of the convention.

They were coordinating bus rides and drop-offs for fellow demonstrators from out of state, some of whom the source described as professional protesters.

Authorities have set up a secure perimeter around the two sites for this year's DNC: the United Center and the McCormick Place Convention Center. And the approved route for demonstrators to march keeps them outside of it.

In 1968, massive left-wing protests against the Vietnam War erupted during the convention, prompting a violent police crackdown.

Protests raged for days outside the convention, outside the Hilton hotel where attendees were staying and in famous Chicago parks. At least one delegate was accused of attacking police at a gate along the perimeter, tearing one officer's badge from his shirt and biting another, according to a government report.

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The 1968 report on the conflict written by Chicago Corporation Counsel Raymond Simon, gives a look into some hard numbers from the ill-fated convention.

The city canceled days off for its 12,000-person police force. Although Chicago's population has grown by roughly 2 million in the following decades, the police force remains at about 12,000 officers.

Simon claimed protesters had been urged to show up with smoke bombs, fake delegate cards and football helmets, among other "props." 

Over days of protests, Simon estimated that mobs of rioters varied in size from 300 to up to 5,000. Permit applications for planned marches predicted between 150,000 and 200,000 people. The Associated Press reported at the time that only around 10,000 showed up on the day of Humphrey's nomination – after organizers had promised 100,000.

Organizers this year claim they are expecting tens of thousands of people to show up for marches at Union Park on Monday and Thursday.

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Simon's report found 60% of the 641 people arrested in connection with the 1968 chaos came from outside of Illinois. Of the 280 under the age of 21, 208 were students. He blamed much of the conflict on adult "troublemakers" from out of town.

Rioters hurled bricks and other missiles at police, who responded with clubs.

Simon reported that 198 police officers had been injured in clashes, including 54 who had to be treated at the hospital. He wrote that there were also 60 civilians hospitalized.

The Associated Press placed the number of civilian injuries at over 300. Chicago police launched internal investigations into complaints of police assaults against 22 reporters.

A separate investigation conducted by Daniel Walker on behalf of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence dubbed the clashes a "police riot" and accused minorities of both officers and demonstrators of inciting the violence.

His report included interviews with witnesses who claimed TV news cameramen had been deliberately targeted by police.

He also noted that earlier in the year, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley may have set the tone when he told police to "shoot to kill arsonists and shoot to maim looters" in response to riots after King's assassination.

Walker placed the civilian injuries in the hundreds, including dozens of non-protesters. Its author dubbed the clashes a "police riot" and found many people injured had not been accused of breaking any laws.

This year's DNC runs from Aug. 19 to 22.

City officials are urging anyone who sees anything suspicious during the convention to immediately call 911.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.