Protesters hit Chicago streets over Gaza at Democratic National Convention

CHICAGO ― Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through Chicago on Monday as the Democratic National Convention began. The crowd was significantly smaller than predicted, and remained largely peaceful.

Several people were arrested in the early evening after a few dozen protesters broke away from the march and pulled down sections of the first ring of security fencing surrounding the United Center, where President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak Monday night. Police later moved to clear a park near the convention site of protesters.

"Law enforcement personnel were immediately on-scene and contained the situation," convention organizers said in a statement. "At no point was the inner perimeter breached, and there was no threat to any protectees."

An animated line of marchers had set off more than an hour earlier down streets lined with schools and three-story brownstones, barely a mile from the United Center ? site of the convention's main event ? as a police helicopter hovered overhead and demonstrators chanted, “Free Palestine."

A string of marches and protests planned for the duration of the convention highlight the biggest threat to the newly energized Democratic Party's unity ? the 10-month war in Gaza, its astonishing death toll, and Biden's continuing support for the key U.S. ally.

More: Dem Convention comes to 'Little Palestine' as Gaza deaths top 40,000

"We're trying to help you, Kamala," read a sign carried by one of the marchers.

"We have accomplished something already. There will be thousands of Black, Asian, Latino and Native people saying the central issue of the day is to stop the war, stop the genocide," Hatem Abudayyeh, national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, said before the march. "That's a powerful message all the Democrats in that building will have to hear."

Chicago is home to the country's biggest Palestinian community. An estimated 50,000 people are attending the convention.

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In what's shaping up as a nailbiter of an election, dissent over Gaza could push Harris to the wall in Michigan and possibly other states. Activists are hoping to use that leverage to extract concessions from the vice president, including a stronger push for a cease-fire in Gaza or an end to arms sales to Israel.

Chicago activist Muhammad Sankari, 36, said the marches should send a "very strong and clear message."

“That’s what we want. That’s all we’ve wanted, to end the genocide against our people. Right now, there’s just a lot lip service from the government,” Sankari said, noting what he said was Harris;s "iron-clad support to Israel."

Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling was among the hundreds of officers lining the protest route. With the riots that followed the police killing of George Floyd fresh in the minds of many Chicagoans, Snelling has repeatedly vowed he would not allow any mayhem.

Monday's march was calms with lines of orange-vested parade marshals separating protesters from the police. A small scuffle on the route was quickly defused.

Shirley Tung, 87, drove alone across the country from Phoenix, Arizona, to protest the Gaza carnage. Unlike many demonstrators interviewed Monday, Tung said she would vote for Harris because she believed the vice president was empathetic to the Palestinians and could end the war. "Biden couldn’t change because he's too old," she said.

Amid the calm on Monday morning organizers passed out masks for use against police pepper spray. In one brief but tense interaction, a group of more than 30 pro-Israel demonstrators calling themselves "Christians and Jews for Israel" marched through the park, and were intercepted by a group waving Palestinian flags. Police and volunteers stepped in to prevent confrontations.

The anguish of the Gaza war was ever-present among the marchers.

One, Tarek Kishawi, said he had lost more than 40 family members in since the start of the war. There isn’t much Harris could do to win his vote, he said. “She’s part of the current administration, so if there’s something she could’ve done, she would’ve,” Kishawi said.

Many who showed up to protest Monday also participated at student protests in the spring. Victoria Hinkley was a University of South Florida student who was expelled in the first week of June.

The 22-year-old said she was unsure what she would do without a degree but still feels she made the right decision. "It was definitely worth it," she said. “It was a decision to stand on the right side of history.”

Ready to rumble with Chicago police

Others braced for potential tussles with police. Mohamed Mawri, a 39-year-old from Detroit, came decked out wearing full bikers pads just in case things turned violent. “I’ve been protesting over 10 months and seen a lot of police brutality,” he said.

Elsewhere in the city on Monday, dozens of marchers supporting independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. set off near Wintrust Stadium, hoping to persuade Democratic loyalists and undecideds to shift their support.

Chicago officials required large protest groups to get permits, prescribed their marching routes, and limited the amount of time they can block traffic as they pass. Reflecting significant security concerns, some streets and buildings are blocked off with tall steel fences and concrete barricades, and in some areas, parked snow plows.

Outside the United Center on Monday night, a small group of die-hard protesters shouted at delegates and others as they entered the heavily guarded venue. “Have fun you lunatics, have fun you psychos,” they said.

"Get ready to say President Trump in November," one added.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Protests at the DNC in Chicago highlight tensions over Gaza war