Chicago police officers clad in riot gear clashed with a crowd of anti-Israel protesters on Tuesday evening as other demonstrators set an American flag on fire, the incidents happening the second night of the Democrat National Convention (DNC).
In one clip, a crowd chanting, “Free, free Palestine” gathered around a protester who set the U.S. flag ablaze. When a reporter named Ben Bergquam stepped forward and tried to grab the flag out of the flames, a protester appeared to shove him.
“Don’t burn the American flag!” the reporter said, to which the protester replied, “Fuck this country! Burn it down!”:
Breaking — Militant leftists set an American flag on fire at DNC protest in Chicago.
Reporter @BenBergquam gets assaulted while attempting to put fire out. pic.twitter.com/0rbAOoKdoF
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 21, 2024
As the officers, wearing blue helmets, marched through the leftist protesters, some of the activists held up signs that read, “End US Aid to Israel!” “Democrats Drop Bombs and Faux Promises,” and “Gaza Means Fight Back.” It is important to note that the Israeli consulate is located nearby.
At one point, the mob appeared to press in closer to the officers as they formed a line to push them back:
🚨#BREAKING: Live on the ground hundreds of Chicago police who are in riot gear are currently clashing with Pro Palestine protesters along with other activists things are extremely tense right now pic.twitter.com/gri4MWDYCa
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) August 21, 2024
More video footage shows officers trying to grab a pole with a flag on it from the activists until they finally let go. Officers then grappled with several protesters as they told those surrounding them to back up. The Blaze report said officers made several arrests:
More fighting between Antifa rioters and Chicago police in downtown. Police have made multiple arrests. pic.twitter.com/WnU1evAFUA
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) August 21, 2024
There were also clashes between pro-Palestinian activists and a pair of white supremacists who showed up.
On Monday, an anti-Israel march at the DNC featured a Hamas flag at the front of the procession which highlighted “the radicalism of some of the more prominent participants,” Breitbart News reported.
The march was attended by several thousand people who eventually moved toward United Center, the venue for the convention. The outlet continued:
Along the way, participants waved flags, carried signs with radical slogans (“Victory to the Palestinian Resistance!”) and joined extremist chants (“We don’t want no two states; give us all of ’48” — a call for destroying Israel entirely).
They also chanted slogans comparing the Chicago Police Department — whose members were protecting the march — to the Ku Klux Klan, and declared that “Zionists” were not welcome, which effectively excludes most Jewish people.
Also on Monday, Army veteran and local resident Shawn Campbell held up an American flag and walked backwards for almost a mile as a counter-protest outside the DNC, Breitbart News reported.
“Campbell wore a T-shirt that simply said ‘vote,’ and marched opposite the protest most of the way from Union Park to the security fence outside the United Center, where the Democratic convention is being held,” the outlet stated.