Judge Won’t Let Protest Groups Closer To DNC Venue

Chicago’s ABC affiliate reports:

Leaders for the Coalition to March on the DNC said Tuesday they will appeal U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood’s decision to deny their request for a preliminary injunction.

Wood’s decision kept the alternative parade route that the city proposed a few weeks ago as the final version for protesters to use on Monday. In her decision, the judge said the plaintiffs’ arguments fell well short of proving a First Amendment violation.

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway, tens of thousands of protesters are expected to converge on Union Park. From there, they will begin their march towards the vicinity of the United Center, where they will be able to protest within “sight and sound” of the delegates and officials inside.

The Associated Press reports:

Four groups seeking to organize protests – the Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Anti-War Committee, Students for a Democratic Society at UIC, and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network – asked for parade permits giving them authorization to march over an expanded area. The judge shut them down this week, rejecting their claim that the city’s preferred protest route violates their First Amendment rights.

They want to take their protest nearer to the United Center, one of two locations for the DNC next week, and through a street that the Secret Service and local law enforcement planners have chosen to block off during the convention as part of the secured perimeter. The judge denied all four permits and told the groups to use a different route, proposed by the city of Chicago, according to court filings.

The convention begins Monday.