What impact will pro-Palestine protests have on the DNC? Tens of thousands expected in Chicago’s streets

When the Democratic National Convention gets underway in Chicago next week, it is expected to be accompanied by the largest pro-Palestine protests in the city’s history, according to advocacy groups.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators aren’t new to Chicago. They have been marching on the city’s streets every weekend since last October, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage. An estimated 40,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza and 85 per cent of people displaced from their homes there since the war’s onset.

The DNC, where Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are expected to accept their nominations, faces significant disruption from protests, with Chicago home to the largest community of Palestinians in the country. Tens of thousands are anticipated to mobilize.

“It’ll be the largest protest in the history of Chicago for Palestinian rights, specifically,” Hatem Abudayyeh, national chair for the US Palestinian Community Network, told Block Club Chicago.

Here’s everything we know about the pro-Palestine protests.

The protests are expected to take place on the first and last days of the convention, August 19 and 22.

Demonstrators are expected to gather in Park 578 and Union Park.

There has been a months-long court battle over the protest route. Advocacy groups requested parade permits to march near the United Center, one of the two DNC venues, but were repeatedly denied by city officials. The city, in turn, offered the groups an alternative route, a requirement that prompted them to sue the ​​city and Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, alleging First Amendment violations.

The groups then asked a federal judge to extend their route by a mile, and move the