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At the March on the DNC’s initial protest on Monday, a small group separated from the larger crowd and began rushing protest marshals and pushing down barricades near the United Center, telling protestors, “Let’s push the wall like they did in Gaza.”
“We don’t have a f*cking permit and we’re not going to cooperate with the police,” one protester wearing all black with a white and black head covering draped over their face, said over a bullhorn during Monday’s demonstration. “Tomorrow … be there for the f*cking fight, if you want to throw down for the people of Gaza,” the person continued.
The TRiiBE reached out to multiple local organizers for this story, but many didn’t feel comfortable speaking on the record about the Behind Enemy Lines action. One participant, who attended the March on DNC on Monday and asked not to be named for self-protection, described to The TRiiBE his experience while at the demonstration, saying the group pushed their way through the crowd. In this article, we’ll refer to him as John D.
“When they were pushing past me, when they were yelling, I looked. I was trying to get a sense of who they were, and multiple of them had shirts that said Behind Enemy Lines and had the logo with the barbed wire going through it,” he said.
The Behind Enemy Lines protestor was rallying the crowd for the “Make it Great Like ’68” march at the Israeli consulate set for Tuesday night. The action, which took place on Aug. 20, was much different than the March on the DNC on Aug. 19 outside the United Center security perimeter, both in numbers and mood. Organizers estimate 20,000 people attended Monday’s protest, while a little over 50 demonstrators gathered at the Israeli Consulate at 500 W. Madison for the action led by Behind Enemy Lines. The goal was to protest America’s funding of the war in Gaza during day two of the Democratic National Convention in a recall of the 1968 convention where things were notably vicious between Vietnam War protesters and Chicago police officers.
In an Instagram post, criticizing the March on DNC, the Behind Enemy Lines group wrote, “If you are satisfied with what happened yesterday, if you believe that a message was sent to the DNC by this city-approved and peace-policed march, than [sic] stay home tonight. If you think the people of Palestine require more, be at the Israeli consulate tonight. 7PM.”
Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and an organizer with the Coalition to March on the DNC, said the actions of the group during the March on DNC were “not acceptable in this kind of space” and referred to a joint statement released by the Coalition to March on the DNC, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and other Chicago organizers, that condemned the group’s actions without naming them specifically.
“Hiding their identities, they verbally and physically assaulted protesters, including Palestinians, Arabs, and protest marshals,” the joint statement read on Instagram. “They shouted at members and leaders of the Coalition and accused us of being cops and feds, but the only ones who aided in police repression were those masked individuals.
Being a part of the Chicago organizing community for the last 10 years, especially participating in the movement for Black lives, John D. told The TRiiBE that he has learned that it is a priority to think about the safety of others within a given space. Organizers and protestors have a responsibility, he said, to take care of each other in moments of uprising.
“We don’t know who this group of people are, and that doesn’t inherently invalidate them,” the movement organizer said. “But I do believe that when you come into space, you have a responsibility to the people who have been organizing in that space you have a responsibility to follow their lead and to do what you can to keep the people around you protected.”
Chicago organizers have taken to social media to complain about the self-proclaimed militant group after the incident where a security gate was breached at the United Center on Monday. The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) stated in an Instagram post, “Any individuals or groups– especially those unknown to the Chicago forces that lead the Palestine liberation movement, respectively– that cause our communities harm and put us in danger – are not welcome in any of our protest or other spaces.”
In an email sent to The TRiiBE on Friday, Behind Enemy Lines sent a statement that refuted claims of physically assaulting organizers and not providing jail support for those who were arrested, among other claims made against them.
The actions of Behind Enemy Lines were also said to be a hindrance to other groups who have been working to go through the proper protocols to stage an inclusive action during the DNC.
“Some of us have not been liking the way they’ve been operating,” Anthony Bryant, a Chicago organizer, said. “We’ve been working for over a year to get a permit for a family-friendly rally & march. We would never organize a small crowd to jeopardize the lives of our supporters, comrades, and attendees against a police force that is committed to using state-sanctioned violence.”
Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and an organizer with the Coalition to March on the DNC, said the organizations he represents abide by the “St. Paul principles,” originating from the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minnesota, where protestors don’t criticize another group’s actions.
“If you want to escalate, for example, or disrupt, you absolutely can do that, and other folks in the movement should not criticize that, as long as you’re not doing it within the context and the confines of an action that is not an escalation action,” said Abudayyeh.
The Behind Enemy Lines group condemned the March on DNC for not being a disruptive action, as they injected themselves into an inclusive action that involved children, the elderly and disabled participants.
As Cook County is home to one of the largest Palestinian populations in the country, local organizers have been leading protests in Chicago since Oct. 7. In January, Mayor Brandon Johnson made the tie-breaking vote where Chicago became the largest city to call for a cease-fire.
During Tuesday night’s march, members of Behind Enemy Lines faced off against police. Participants did not have a permit to rally and were immediately sandwiched by the police on Madison between Clinton and Canal Streets. Chicago Police officers joined together to create man-made barricades on both ends of the streets.
One protestor wearing all black said into a bullhorn, “The only way to get peace is through force,” adding that 10 months of peaceful action has led to nothing, referring to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 which led to the continuous attacks from Israel on Palestinians.
By the end of the action, most of the protestors were arrested. According to CPD Supt. Larry Snelling, the arrests were made as the group began to get violent and also vandalized a car. In an Instagram post the day after the protest, Behind Enemy Lines called Snelling a liar and CPD “violent thugs” who wrongfully arrested protestors while also calling Mayor Brandon Johnson “an enemy of free expression.”
Abudayyeh noted that pro-Palestinian groups, such as USPCN, have participated in disruptive actions including shutting down U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky’s office in October and blocking roadways all over the country back in April.
“In terms of being militant and in terms of escalating and disrupting, we believe very strongly in that kind of organizing but there’s a time and place for all of it,” Abudayyeh said.
He added that their approach can’t go against the style of protest currently taking place during an action. “If they’re doing it in the middle of those other styles of actions and organizing, then that’s a violation of our principles,” Abudayyeh said.
Many of the organizations that were present during the march at the Israeli consulate were notably not Chicago-based. Arlette Jacome, an organizer with Labor for Palestine, a national group founded in 2004, spoke during the demonstration. She said she’s visiting Chicago from the San Francisco Bay area to join demonstrations while the DNC is in session.
“I think what’s happening here is a testament to how frustrated people are with the current state of affairs, and people want their voices to be heard,” Jacome said.
Rachel Nass, an organizer from New York and also with the group Labor For Palestine, said the “Make it Great Like ’68” protest, from her understanding, was planned out for months, and believes that achieving liberation for Palestine is the desire for all groups.
“There’s no such thing as an outside agitator, as an outside group. The outside agitator is the Israeli settlers and the U.S. war machine” Nass said.
Kobi Guillory, an organizer with the Coalition to March on the DNC, echoed Nass’ sentiments, saying, “I condemn the U.S. government that’s been sending billions of dollars to a genocidal apartheid state.”
John D. also stressed that while such groups like Behind Enemy Lines may have the same goal, it is critical to use history as a guide for how organizers should operate, keeping marginalized groups such as Black people at the forefront, as they are the community targeted the most during such actions.
“I think there are many historical and contemporary examples of this. At its worst, it’s intentional political sabotage, and at its best, it’s just potentially harmful to the people around them,” the organizer said.
At the end of the night during the “Make it Great Like ’68” march, dozens of CPD officers blocked off the intersection of Monroe and Canal, pushing those in the area back as they tied yellow tape to various structures around them.
One couple walking down the street was shocked by the situation they walked into.
“It’s her birthday. I’m trying to show her a good time, and we have to go back to the train station,” Darrius Coopwood said as he walked his girlfriend, Grace Morton, down Canal Street.
Coming from Crystal Lake, a city roughly 50 miles from Chicago, the two were aware of the DNC being hosted in Chicago but thought that any events related to the convention would be near the United Center and wouldn’t disturb their outing and prevent them from catching their Metra train back home.
“I spoke to two police officers and asked them, ‘Please, may we go to the train station?’ And they told us, ‘No, you have to walk somewhere else to go there.’ I asked one of them, do you know where to point us in the direction? I’m not from here. And they said, ‘No, I have no idea,'” said Morton, who is originally from the UK.
One woman from Milwaukee was sitting in her car, preparing to pick her daughter-in-law up from Union Station, and found herself unable to pull off as officers held protestors in the street and slowly walked them to police vans. She said she still had a nearly two-hour trip back to Milwaukee to drive that night.
As the March on DNC prepares for its final action during the last night of the DNC, Behind Enemy Lines will be doing an “agitation and summation” training followed by “a presentation on the legacy of the October 22nd Coalition against police brutality” at 3614 W. Irving Park Road, 6 miles from the United Center.
